Chelsea might well fancy their chances of going the distance in the Club World Cup.
The Blues' first group stage fixture out in America gets underway on Monday as Enzo Maresca's men face off against LAFC, with the likes of standout Chelsea personnel Cole Palmer and Enzo Fernandes perhaps chosen for a run-out against the MLS opponents, away from debuts potentially being handed to faces such as Liam Delap.
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Palmer will hope he can strut his stuff in the Club World Cup to begin his pre-season on a memorable note, with Chelsea ready to land a talent similar to the entertaining attacking midfielder if this move gets off the ground this summer.
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Chelsea kick off their Club World Cup campaign against late entrants, LAFC, on Monday.
Chelsea still have exciting attacker on their radar
The opening day of the tournament coincides with the transfer window swinging back open after a temporary closure, so it will be interesting to see how BlueCo aim to strengthen.
Well, as per Football London, Chelsea still have RB Leipzig star Xavi Simons on their radar as more new signings to complement Delap's statement arrival are contemplated, with the site stating that a deal for the enthralling 22-year-old to move to England is one to watch.
Nothing is advanced at this stage, though, but if a switch were to finally kick into gear, Chelsea could be about to land their second coming of Palmer.
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Simons has proven over many a season now that he is a goal-and-assist machine in the Bundesliga, much like the Manchester-born ace has shown when performing at the peak of his powers under Maresca.
How Simons could be Palmer 2.0 for Chelsea
Like Palmer, who had to walk away from hometown employers Manchester City to succeed, Simons would have to get over his own similar issues as a youngster on the books of Paris St. Germain.
The explosive Dutchman would only tally up just one meagre assist from 11 senior appearances in the French capital, before going on to be a much-loved star at both PSV Eindhoven and Leipzig.
Palmer has experienced an upward trajectory akin to the 22-year-old's rise, with only six goals and two assists coming his way when lining up infrequently for Pep Guardiola's City.
Palmer vs Simons in 2024/25
Stat (* = per game)
Games played
Goals scored
Assists
Touches*
Accurate passes*
Key passes*
Shots*
Shots on target*
Big chances missed
Big chances created
Stats by Sofascore
Now, however, Palmer is one of the standout number 10s in the division when glancing at his league numbers from this season just gone, with a mightily impressive 15 goals and eight assists coming his way from 37 appearances.
Staggeringly, the Leipzig number star has just completed a similarly blistering campaign in the Bundesliga, with Simons only six off Palmer's bumper goal-and-assist tally, even from 12 fewer league clashes. On that evidence, it's not a surprise to see him described as "one of the best 10s in the world", by one analyst on social media.
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Even more could soon come from Simons if he were to take the leap to relocate to the Premier League, with 77 goal contributions already under his belt when starring in his native Netherlands and Germany.
The only issue that might potentially arise is attempting to fit the spellbinding 22-year-old into the same starting lineup as Palmer, but Simons can slot into an XI happily down the left wing - away from primarily lining up through the middle - as seen in his sturdy career tally of 35 goals and assists in this position from 59 games.
In an ideal world, therefore, both Simons and Palmer could terrorise Premier League defences side-by-side, with the addition of the Amsterdam-born ace perhaps allowing Chelsea to kick on in the Champions League next season, away from over-relying on the ice-cold magic of their number ten.
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