It was a late decision from Chelsea. In the summer of 2022, the Blues went all out for Ajax midfielder Edson Alvarez, who wanted to move to Stamford Bridge, but he ended up staying in Amsterdam and Chelsea had to turn their attention elsewhere.
Similar to Chelsea's signing of Saul Niguez 12 months before, the Blues brought in Denis Zakaria on a season-long loan deal on transfer deadline day. The club confirmed the deal on September 2 and it's understood they have an option to buy the Switzerland international for a fee in the region of €30million (£26.5million).
The 26-year-old midfielder is someone with a big reputation and had been linked with a move to the Premier League on countless occasions before. However, after moving from Borussia Monchengladbach to Juventus – his parent club – in January 2022, his continuous rise seemed to somewhat halt.
