Sky Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg has just given an update on Chelsea’s only remaining active transfer situation – the chase for Rennes defender Jeremy Jacquet.
The central defender appeared close to a move to Stamford Bridge earlier in this window, but the last 10 days have seen little in terms of news on that front. Plettenberg disagrees with Fabrizio Romano’s assertion that the youngster agreed a deal with Chelsea, but agrees that the clubs haven’t yet found common ground.
Chelsea’s hopes of signing top young defender fading fast
Florian Plettenberg on Chelsea's chase for Jeremy Jacquet.
Florian Plettenberg on Chelsea’s chase for Jeremy Jacquet.
The German insider says it’s going to be a “decisive week” in our chase for the defender. Well, that goes without saying really, as it’s the final week of the transfer window.
Despite all these transfer bods hyping it up, we just can’t see it happening. The sums involved, even at the low end, are too large. Chelsea need to keep their spending down to comply with their UEFA settlement, and there seems to be no interest in the players they have up for sale this month who could potentially balance the books.
As Plettenberg concludes, “everything will be open again in the summer,” when we hopefully have a little more wiggle room on spending and Rennes are more willing to do a deal.
In other news…
It seemed like Chelsea’s midfield depth issues were over when they signed Dario Essugo in the summer – but he’s spent even more time on the side-lines than Romeo Lavia, the man he was supposed to be helping cover for. It’s not clear what the club will do in the summer now.
Chelsea welcomed both Lavia and Cole Palmer back to training this week, and while we’re not sure when they will be ready to play, it’s a good sign they’re on the right path.
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Florian Plettenberg reports from a training ground.
Florian Plettenberg reports from a training ground.
Florian Plettenberg speaks on Sky Sports.