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Chelsea have more business to do yet | Manchester United via Getty Imag
All the latest news and transfer rumours surrounding Chelsea as they turn their attention to Fulham.
Chelsea are up and running in the Premier League after smashing West Ham for five on Friday night, putting a frustrating opening day goalless draw in the rear-view mirror. Enzo Maresca’s men were sizzling at the London Stadium, though it it must be added that the Hammers were particularly bad defensively.
Fulham are next up for Chelsea on Saturday, with a West London derby lying in wait. In the meantime, the Blues will be continuing their transfer efforts, and here we round up all the latest news and transfer rumours surrounding Stamford Bridge.
Simons latest
RB Leipzig chief Marcel Schafe has been speaking to Sky Deutschland about Chelsea’s proposed £60million move for Xavi Simons. He said: “As of today, Xavi will stay with us. We’ve always said that we make all decisions based on sporting and financial considerations, and that’s why Xavi is our player and why he played today.
“The transfer market is still open. You never know what’ll happen. I can’t guarantee that 100%. Everyone knows about his ambitions. He’s also told us that. There have certainly been a few exchanges in recent weeks. As we saw today, Xavi was in the starting line-up. So, there has been no agreement yet. And that’s why it will remain that way for now.”
Sterling latest
Chesea are said to be struggling to sell Raheem Sterling amid reported talks with West Ham. Pete O’Rourke told Football Insider: “We know that Chelsea are open to letting Sterling leave before the close of the window. He spent last season at Arsenal because he wasn’t in the plans at Chelsea.
“He still doesn’t remain in those plans, Chelsea are willing to let Sterling move on. He’s a bit of an outcast at Stamford Bridge, but he’s still a very experienced Premier League player. A few clubs in the Premier League will be looking at Sterling’s situation and hoping that they can maybe lure him away.
“There are clubs across Europe looking at Sterling as well. The problem for a lot of these clubs is the huge salary, because he’s on well over £300,000 per week at Chelsea and that could be hard for other teams to get to. Maybe Chelsea might have to pay a portion of that salary if some of those clubs are to follow up their interest in Sterling. As things stand, they’re struggling to attract interest in him.”
West Ham win reaction
Speaking after the West Ham game, one of the goalscorers, Joao Pedro, said: “We started the game having gone one goal down, but we showed our togetherness today to win the game. I think we know our power. When we started the game, the first thing we thought about was winning. We’ve got so much power in the team. Cole Palmer was out today, but we played Estevao Willian and he showed his quality. It’s good to have a team like this.
“With [so many] different players scoring today, that will help give confidence to the team. That confidence will help us keep going. To have the first win away is very important for us. It helps to prepare us for other games. You never know, you can go 1-0 down, but if you have the confidence, then you can change the game.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea boss Maresca said: “The start was not the best in the way we planned with Cole Palmer’s injury and conceding a goal after five minutes, but the reaction from the players is something that is very good to me,.
“Especially you could see how confident they were about the game plan. They stuck to the game plan on and off the ball and continued in the same way. I am very happy, very impressed. We conceded a goal because of him, he lost the ball in the build-up, so he needs to make a mistake to learn, but overall the performance was very good. His reaction to that mistake showed how good he is, and the reason why he is here with us.”
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