Chelsea are looking to wrap up transfer business early this summer. With Dario Essugo joining in the summer, after a deal with Sporting CP was agreed in March, the Blues are looking to add to that.
Liam Delap will be next through the door at Stamford Bridge. football.london understands Chelsea have activated the 22-year-old’s £30million release clause in his contract at Ipswich Town after the striker said yes to the Blues out of all of his options from the Premier League and abroad.
Delap is expected to have his medical at Cobham in the early part of next week. The England Under-21 international will be able to be registered as a Chelsea player with an exceptional registration period between June 1 and June 10 opening. With the FIFA Club World Cup beginning midway through this month, Chelsea are trying to get ahead of the game and get geared up for the 2025/26 campaign.
Chelsea will add Delap to their ranks to provide support and competition for Nicolas Jackson. While the Senegal international remains highly rated by those at the club, there is an acceptance the reliance on the Blues’ No.15 has been too high recently and with Delap arriving, there will be more opportunities to rotate and take Jackson out of the side if at all needed.
After Delap signs, Chelsea will move onto other targets. football.london understands the Blues are also looking at signing a new left-sided winger this summer. In the January transfer window, there were multiple options looked at, including the likes of Alejandro Garnacho, Jamie Gittens and Mathys Tel.
Tel ended up moving to Tottenham on loan until the end of the season, while Garnacho and Gittens remain on Chelsea’s radar. Although interest in Garnacho has cooled in recent months. Meanwhile, Nico Williams is a long-term target of the club’s, with a move for the Spain international considered last summer but his wage demands were considered too high.
Chelsea have a strict wage structure, although the Blues are open to making exceptions for what they deem to be special players, football.london understands. The future of Mykhailo Mudryk remains up in the air with the Ukraine international currently suspended after failing a drugs test in December. All the signs, meanwhile, are pointing towards Chelsea taking up the £25million clause in Jadon Sancho’s loan contract to make a deal permanent for the Manchester United winger.
Elsewhere, Chelsea are looking at adding a new central defender to their ranks at some point over the summer transfer window. Ousmane Diomande, Marc Guehi, Murillo and Tomas Araujo are all on the club’s radar as the Blues look to add depth to the centre-back pool ahead of another extremely busy season next time around.
As well as this, a couple of central defenders could be on their way out of the club this summer. Chelsea will not stand in Trevoh Chalobah’s way should an appropriate offer come their way for the Cobham graduate, football.london understands, while sources have refused to rule out Benoit Badiashile leaving over the summer window.
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