The summer transfer window is back open and talks continue between Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund over a deal for Jamie Gittens to move to Stamford Bridge.
The Blues saw a £42million offer for the 20-year-old turned down last week with the Black and Yellow holding out for north of £50million for the winger's signature, sources have told football.london. Gittens has since been included in Dortmund's FIFA Club World Cup squad, meaning if he was to sign for Chelsea before the competition concluded then he would be ineligible to play.
Either way, the Blues are still looking to push forward with a deal to bring the England Under-21s international to west London. There is also an interest in Lyon winger Malick Fofana, football.london understands, with Chelsea making contact in recent days with the French club to sound out a possible move for the Belgium international.
However, the Gittens deal is way more advanced at the time of writing. Personal terms are thought to already be verbally agreed with the Reading-born winger, with a disagreement on the fee being the big obstacle at the moment.
Enzo Maresca is looking to add to his squad as Chelsea look to fight on all four fronts next season. The Blues are back in the Champions League after finishing fourth in the Italian's debut campaign at the club - something that has massively boosted their hand when it comes to transfer dealings behind the scenes.
Back in April, Maresca admitted his side's hopes in the transfer window depended on whether or not they qualified for the Champions League: "Football is not five, 10 years ago when the rules were different. Today you have to be careful with how much you spend. It will be a completely different kind of target if we finish in the Champions League."
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There are a few different elements to this. First of all, the prize money alone has a huge positive impact on the club's budget and with the Premier League's Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) more prominent than ever nowadays, it has given Chelsea some wiggle room in the transfer market.
There is also the crucial factor of attracting the elite talent. Chelsea consider Gittens to be just that - and that is why he is their main target on the left wing. Gittens has told Dortmund that he wants to leave Signal Iduna Park this summer with the winger wishing to move to Stamford Bridge and team up with Maresca and co, football.london understands, something you think would be much more difficult if Chelsea did not qualify for the Champions League with that final day victory over Nottingham Forest last month.
Noni Madueke started on the left wing for the Blues on Monday as they kicked off their Club World Cup journey with a 2-0 victory over Los Angeles FC. Madueke, though, flattered to deceive, in a position that is unnatural to the usually right-sided winger; he did, however, play there on numerous occasions towards the end of the recently-concluded Premier League season.
Tyrique George came on for Madueke later in the game and while there are extremely high hopes for the Cobham graduate, they will not want to go into the new season with the 19-year-old as their only natural left-sided option. Pedro Neto has also been used on the left plenty under Maresca, though the Chelsea head coach has consistently said he believes the Portuguese performs better on the right-hand side.
With Jadon Sancho departing earlier in the month, Maresca was quite clear with his stance over bringing a new left winger to the club: "Jadon is not with us so for sure that is a position we need to do something. We have Noni, Pedro and Ty only as the proper wingers so something for sure is going to happen."