Chelsea's summer rebuild continues as Thomas Tuchel looks to add plenty of new faces to his squad. While the German coach is expected to be one of the busiest in the window, the Blues are one of only two teams yet to conclude a signing so far.
That said, one appears to be close as Raheem Sterling is expected to make the switch from Manchester City. football.london also understands that teammate Nathan Ake could also make a stunning return to Stamford Bridge, with advanced talks underway.
Plenty more could still arrive in west London, though, with Tuchel previously claiming his squad needs a complete refresh: "We are rebuilding, not improving the squad. We are rebuilding. This is always challenging, but we are up for the challenge."
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Even if Ake eventually makes the switch, the Blues may still be light at the back. That’s because key duo Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen have already left the club as free transfers.
Plenty of other centre-back options have been linked, including Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly, who enters the final year of his deal. However, in response to such rumours, director Cristian Giantuli said: “Koulibaly is key player for us. There’s no bid from any club. We’ve offered him new deal for €6m net salary per season plus a future role as part of the board.
“It’s a huge proposal, €60m gross for Napoli - Koulibaly deserves it all… We didn’t need to tell Koulibaly that we’re not selling him to Juventus - because we consider Koulibaly untouchable and non-transferrable.”
It represents a blow to Chelsea as it seems as though he could stay with the Azzurri, but the player still has to make the choice when it comes to the contract renewal.
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