Chelsea are on the lookout for new signingsplaceholder image
Chelsea are on the lookout for new signings | Manchester United via Getty Imag
All the latest news and transfer rumours surrounding Chelsea as they prepare for the FIFA Club World Cup knockout stages.
Chelsea are now looking forward to a FIFA Club World Cup Round of 16 clash with SL Benfica on Saturday after defeating ED Tunis to progress to the knockout stages. The Blues are going to have to step up their performances from this point forward if they want a deep run into the competition in the United States.
Diomande latest
Chelsea will reportedly push ahead in their bid to sign Sporting CP defender Ousmane Diomande. It’s reported that Maresca is a big fan of the defender and that Diomande is his preferred defensive target this summer with a centre-back signing very likely at Stamford Bridge.
CaughtOffside are now saying Chelsea are ready to step up their efforts to sign Diomande, but they want t pay less than his £68million release clause. Sporting could play hardball on that front, though, expecting to sell Viktor Gyokeres for big money this summer, offering them financial security for years to come.
Hato interest
Elsewhere, Graeme Bailey has told The Boot Room that Chelsea could sign Ajax defender Jorrel Hato this summer. He said: “Arsenal see Hato as the perfect addition to the left side of their defence, but obviously it’s far from a done deal. We know that Chelsea are pushing hard to sign Hato and Liverpool still really like him. But I think Arsenal would be annoyed if they didn’t get Hato considering how much work they’ve been putting in.
“Arsenal have been chasing Hato since he was around 14 or 15 years old, so I think there is a bit of confidence there. They want to sell Zinchenko to make room for Hato and then we still expect Kiwior to go as well. There will be plenty of room in that squad for Hato who is able to play a variety of roles.”
Delap impact
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca was pleased to see Liam Delap hit the target against ED Tunis, backing the frontman to find the net consistently in a blue shirt. “We know Liam is going to score goals for us, we don’t have any doubts about that,” said Maresca.
“Against Flamengo he had three clear chances to score goals, so that is a good feeling because it means he is there, he is in the right position and doing well. Unfortunately, he didn’t score against Flamengo, but tonight he scored.‘ We expect the process to be quite quick with Liam because we know him and he knows us in the way we want to play,’ Maresca added of Delap’s adaptation to life as a Blue.
“For instance, for Dario Essugo, Mamadou Sarr, or Andrey Santos, who was with us for pre-season last summer, it’s going to be a little bit more complicated and they’ll need more time because they don’t know exactly the way we want to play. Liam, we know each other very well, so the process with him is quite quick, and it’s also because he is a very good player.”
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