Todd Boehly's first summer in charge of Chelsea could see him spend more than £350million on new recruits as injuries and the uncertainty over Frenkie de Jong leaving a huge gap in Thomas Tuchel's side to be filled.
The Blues have so far spent more than £170million on five new recruits this summer, with two of those - in the form of Carney Chukwuemeka and Gabriel Slonina - more ones for the future. Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella are all settling in well to Tuchel's side but as the tight win against Everton and the most recent draw against Tottenham demonstrated, more is still needed to be done if Chelsea are to enter the title conversation this season alongside Liverpool and Manchester City.
According to The Telegraph, Tuchel has earmarked Barcelona's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as his main target this week, with an official bid expected to be submitted and talks to intensify, with £21m currently the asking price for the 33-year-old. If that deal is done, attention will turn to Anthony Gordon and Wesley Fofana with both deals, it they get the green light, set to add £156m onto the £170m spent on the first five recruits, that's accounting for the former Arsenal man too.
READ MORE: Chelsea given controversial Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang verdict as Barcelona reveal price
With £326m spent at this point if all goes well, one issue that is apparent after the London derby this weekend lies in the midfield. N'Golo Kante's muscular injury could keep him sidelined for some time alongside the already injured Mateo Kovacic.
“It seems another muscle injury, the hamstring. He said he feels it pretty strong. So no good news," Tuchel said on the Frenchman after the 2-2 draw.
Conor Gallagher isn't a natural defensive midfielder, whilst Ruben Loftus-Cheek is set to be credited permanent Reece James cover for the right wing-back role after his solid outing in the London derby.
That £326m may have to go above the £350m mark with midfield now an area of concern that Boehly must address, taking into account the recent injury blows.
Frenkie de Jong is still undecided on his next destination with all three options of a Barcelona stay, Manchester United transfer or Blues move all still on the cards. The latest from Fabrizio Romano is that Chelsea will try until the bitter end to sign the Dutchman, whilst sources closer to the United side indicate that they expect to have the 25-year-old signed just before the Liverpool game next Monday.
Alternatively, Matheus Nunes or Youri Tielemans could come into the equation or maybe even an unknown name that hasn't yet been linked. One thing for certain is that the centre-of-the-park is a position that should be monitored in the incoming side of things before the September deadline, with spending at Chelsea this summer now set to surpass the £350m mark.
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