Xavi Simons shows true colours as Chelsea receive dream update for £90m transfer plan

Chelsea look set to take their summer transfer window spending to nearly £300 million with talks ongoing for another two new signings.

Jamie Gittens, Joao Pedro, Liam Delap and Jorrel Hato have been the marquee additions to Stamford Bridge with Dario Essugo and Mamadour Sarr very much signings for the future. Numerous exits have helped offset funds spent with Noni Madueke, Joao Felix and Djorde Petrovic among those to leave permanently.

Selling several senior stars and winning the Club World Cup looks to have given Chelsea plenty of financial breathing room with Xavi Simons and Alejandro Garnacho both being pursued as a result. A new centre-back also joining is a real possibility with Levi Colwill set to miss the majority of the campaign because of a knee injury.

The club’s centre-back situation looked to go from bad to worse when Trevoh Chalobah limped off against AC Milan but any concerns over an injury have been alleviated. With that being said, football.london has taken a look at the latest Chelsea transfer news and rumours.

Simons shows true colours

In the chaos of Chelsea playing twice in three days at Stamford Bridge, it may have been missed that Simons played the full 90 minutes of RB Leipzig’s 2-1 friendly defeat to Lens.

The Netherlands international has been in team training for the majority of pre-season, but both he and Benjamin Sesko were omitted from the squad that faced Atalanta last weekend. The latter has since completed a transfer to Manchester United.

Simons is still expected to join the Blues, though, with personal terms already agreed.

football.london says: Though it is clear he wants the move, Simons has remained professional and as he is still contracted to Leipzig he looks set to continue playing for them.

It is highly unlikely that Chelsea will be too bothered by this decision and if anything, it could turn out to be huge advantage for when he does hopefully join with his fitness levels and match sharpness likely not too far of those already at the club.

The 22-year-old does now face an important week as talks are expected to continue. If no real progress is made, Simons featuring in the German’s side first competitive game of the season, which arrives this weekend against Sandhausen in the DFB Pokal, is certainly possible.

Chalobah message amid £90m transfer plan

Chelsea would have almost certainly signed a new defender had Chalobah joined Colwill on the long-term absentee list. Thankfully, the former has confirmed that all is well despite the understandable concerns regarding a possible injury.

“All good everyone, thanks for the messages,” Chalobah wrote on X after the match. Though Maresca may want to strengthen in that department, the priority for Chelsea looks set to remain on Simons and Garnacho.

Chelsea value the Manchester United star at £30m while it is expected that an offer in the region of £60m will be enough to sign Simons.

football.london says: Chalobah getting injured could have very easily resulted in a double blow for Chelsea. Not only would it be one less starting centre-back available, but it also may have stopped either a deal for Simons or Garnacho.

Instead, the Blues can continue those ongoing discussions and potentially enquire for defenders just before the window closes. That way, the club can see how Benoit Badiashile recovers from injury with Wesley Fofana also eyeing an imminent return.

By that point, Marc Guehi could already be off the market which may force Chelsea to keep one of Axel Disasi, Renato Veiga or Aaron Anselmino. If any of that trio stay, it will most likely be the latter given the plan was to just loan him out and sell the other two.