If rumours are to be believed, then both Barcelona's Ousmane Dembele and Inter Milan Milan Skriniar could both become the first signings of the Todd Boehly era.
But just how true are these said rumours and could the Blues being used by the players in question to their own benefit? Well, on the 25-year-old winger, Get French Football News have reported that in the last few hours, Chelsea have swooped in with their own contract offer for a player who, as It stands, becomes a free agent on Friday.
It is important to remember that Dembele's preference is to stay put at the Camp Nou and couple this with the fact that his agent Moussa Sissoko is in renewed contract talks with the Barcelona hierarchy and these fresh updates and the timing of those start to look a little suspicious. The added names of Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool into the Dembele equation suggest that his agent Sissoko could be using all interested parties' names to ensure that Barca cave in and do indeed renew his client's contract but only on the improved terms that have been mooted around.
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Of course, Chelsea could still very much land the Thomas Tuchel favourite this summer still, especially if he does indeed become officially a free agent at the start of July but any suggestion that the Blues are closing in on Barca's number 7 remains wide of the mark. The Guardian's Jacob Steinberg tweeted: 'As it stands - Chelsea are yet to make an offer to Dembele. Focus is on sorting Sterling and Ake. Dembele yet to come to a final decision over his future at Barcelona, though it sounds unlikely he’ll extend. Xavi wants to keep him.'
A similar story can be said for defensive target Milan Skriniar who only really came into the frame a few days ago when certain Italian. news outlets had reported that Chelsea were 'serious' about rivalling Paris Saint-Germain for the signing of Inter Milan star Skriniar who is viewed by many as a viable alternative to Matthijs de Ligt.
PSG and Inter have been in negotiations for some time now regarding the 27-year-old and no offer so far submitted has reached the £68m asking price that the Serie A club have put on their star defender.
So how could the Inter hierarchy possibly pressure the Parisians into paying up fully for the Slovakian? Perhaps include Chelsea's name into the equation. According to Gianluca Di Marzio, the Antonio Conte favourite is another option Todd Boehly is considering making a move for, especially if Juventus don't lower their extortionate demands for De Ligt.
Fast forward a few hours and that tactic to include Chelsea's name into proceedings has seemingly worked a treat with Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport reporting that the current Ligue 1 Champions are now prepared to meet the asking price.
These are two situations where of course, Chelsea could end up signing these two aforementioned targets but a lot would need to happen for this to be the case with both players and their camps' priorities being elsewhere. Dembele's being to stay at Barcelona and Skriniar's being to move to the French capital.
Chelsea fans- Do you think Chelsea's name is just being used by both Ousmane Dembélé and Milan Skriniar so they can get their favoured outcome this summer? Leave your thoughts down below in the comments section!
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