Chelsea have been linked with a massive winter swap deal as they work to replace Enzo Fernández in the next transfer window.
While Chelsea have enjoyed a rather exciting start to the new season under new manager Xabi Alonso, it’s fair to say that their summer didn’t go entirely according to plan. In particular, many at Stamford Bridge are still waiting to see just how badly their failure to replace Enzo Fernández on transfer deadline day might bite them.
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The plan had been to sign Monaco’s Lamine Camara once Fernández’s £125m move to Manchester City had been completed, but the unexpected late collapse of that deal left Chelsea with a rather worrying hole in their midfield. It could well prove to be a significant problem as the season wears on, and it would be no surprise to see the Blues try to rectify their mistake once the January transfer window opens.
According to at least one new report, Chelsea are already doing their due diligence on a potential winter transfer move – but it’s not Camara, and it could be a deal which involves a current Chelsea player going the other way…
The huge swap deal which Cheslea are reportedly considering this January
Manu Koné challenges Fiorentina's Franco Mastantuono for the ballplaceholder image
Manu Koné challenges Fiorentina's Franco Mastantuono for the ball | Getty Images
According to Chelsea reporter Simon Phillips, Chelsea are already working on a deal for another midfielder who caught their eye towards the end of the summer: Roma’s Manu Koné.
Koné ended up being Plan B behind Senegal international Camara, but perhaps only because Roma were unwilling to sell given their own inability to find a late replacement. French newspaper L’Equipe claim that Chelsea and Roma agreed a transfer fee of €60m (£51m), but the Serie A side were only prepared to go through with the deal if they found a new midfielder of their own. They couldn’t, and Chelsea moved on.
Phillips claims that as Chelsea begin preparations to fill the void left by Fernández’s sale over the winter, Koné could become an option once more. The Frenchman, who played five games at the 2026 World Cup, was said to be keen on the move, and the suggestion is that resurrecting it could be easy enough given that Roma would have more time to get their own side of the deal in order come January.
Phillips’ reporting suggests that Koné might not end up as the only player who moves, however – he also claims that winger Jamie Gittens could end up moving to Rome as part of the deal, and indeed that the 22-year-old was a part of the initial negotiations at the end of the summer.
His version of events as to why negotiations collapsed was that Roma were only willing to sign Gittens on loan while Chelsea preferred a permanent deal. If that’s true, then sorting that out could be key to establishing the terms for a deal to sign Koné in the coming months. Gittens, again, is said to be happy to try his luck in Italy after a disappointing first season at Stamford Bridge.
What Chelsea will do about their midfield vacancy come the winter
France international Manu Koné is only one of several players on Chelsea's radarplaceholder image
France international Manu Koné is only one of several players on Chelsea's radar | Getty Images
While the advent of financial fair play rules has served to make swap deals a real possibility again due to the way that they allow teams to manipulate the payments that are made or received during a deal, it remains challenging to agree a deal involving this many moving pieces – especially if Roma aren’t keen to meet Chelsea’s terms over the Gittens half of the deal.
But even if a part-trade deal proves to be impossible, the idea that Chelsea could make a second move for Koné stands up given that both the need for a box-to-box midfielder and their interest in the player are likely to remain. A more traditional transfer may be more probable, but it’s likely that further discussions take place.
Chelsea will, however, continue to monitor other targets and may well spend the winter making fresh attempts to sign either Camara, who would likely be keen to see his own move to London resurrected, or Bournemouth’s Alex Scott.
The deal for Camara collapsed after Monaco pulled the plug. The French club only needed to sell one player from a financial perspective and killed the Camara move off once they agreed to sell striker Folarin Balogun to Everton – ironically, a deal which ended up being cancelled as well after the US international failed a medical, leaving Monaco in a difficult financial position with little recourse. They are likely to be very keen to come back to the negotiating table this winter, although Chelsea may now view discussions with understandable suspicion.
Scott, meanwhile, was the subject of a rejected £65m bid earlier in the summer. Chelsea decided not to persist in their interest but the 23-year-old turned down the offer of a new contract and will have just 18 months left on his deal at Dean Court by the time the January transfer window starts up. That could encourage Bournemouth to reconsider their position if nothing changes.
In short, while the suggestion that Chelsea could bid for Koné in the winter is entirely plausible, there are any number of other directions they could go in instead. All that seems certain is that they will do everything possible to make their wait for Enzo Fernández’s successor as short as possible.