Todd Boehly – CaughtOffside

Exclusive: Three-way Premier League fight for talented Chelsea defender

Jason Pettigrove — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 11:37:23 +0000

Enzo Maresca has been working away with his new Chelsea squad during this pre-season, knowing that some of those players do not have a future at the club.

With just over three weeks to go until the 2024/25 Premier League campaign begins, all clubs will want to have a clear idea of not only who their starting XI will be, but also which players remain at their disposal.

From Chelsea’s point of view, Trevoh Chalobah remains surplus to requirements, and CaughtOffside sources now understand that the player himself is willing to move on elsewhere to continue his professional career.

Chelsea to sell Trevoh Chalobah, three EPL clubs circling

Fortunately for the player, the three English top-flight clubs that CaughtOffside sources indicate are interested are all from London.

Crystal Palace, West Ham and Fulham are tracking the 24-year-old English centre-back, and are reportedly keen to fully understand the conditions of any deal.

Trevoh Chalobah in action for Chelsea

The Hammers are believed to be hunting for a replacement for the outgoing Nayef Aguerd, while sources say Crystal Palace want to sign an English player to replace Marc Guehi.

Whilst keeping Guehi is the Eagles’ preference, after his excellent Euro 2024 performances the South Londoners will understand that his value will be maximised and now would be the best time to cash in.

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CaughtOffside sources note that Palace will make an opening offer of £20m but Chelsea are minded not to sell for anything below the £25m-£30m mark.

Given that Chalobah is still effectively some way from his ‘prime’ years as a player, whomever ends up signing him can be assured, injuries notwithstanding, that they are getting a bargain and will have a solid, English centre-back at the heart of their defence for years to come.

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£65m reason why Chelsea won’t sign brilliant 21-goal striker this summer

Jason Pettigrove — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 06:11:08 +0000

Only Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City and Newcastle outscored Chelsea last season.

The Blues’ Cole Palmer led the way with 25 goals per BBC Sport, with Nicolas Jackson weighing in with 17. Thereafter the goals were spread eight across the squad.

It’s evident that with a target man in situ the West Londoners could really propel themselves up the Premier League in 2024/25.

Chelsea not signing Solanke

A mobile No.9 that also thrives on service has to be a priority for Enzo Maresca and Todd Boehly, however, former Chelsea man, Dominic Solanke, won’t be that man.

Solanke, 26, scored 21 goals and provided three assists last season according to WhoScored, and has shown himself to be a willing runner for Bournemouth, and someone who works hard throughout a game.

He’ll help create chances for the team and for himself rather than expecting to be consistently fed whilst meandering up front and staying out of harms way.

Dominic Solanke is unlikely to be signed by Chelsea

Football Insider are reporting that sources have said that Solanke’s sale price of £65m is too ‘prohibitive.’

On the face of it, that’s an odd statement to be making, given that the Blues have spent a huge amount on players over the past couple of seasons.

Perhaps the very real threat of being docked points because of Financial Fair Play is now having to be taken much more seriously than before.

Of course, Chelsea are well within their rights not to be held to ransom by clubs just because it’s believed that they have the money, though it would be hard to argue against the £65m that Bournemouth want for Solanke not being market value.

One of the form strikers in the English top-flight last season, he proved on multiple occasions that he has what it takes to make a team stronger.

Unless Todd Boehly has bigger fish to fry, not moving for Solanke doesn’t make an awful lot of sense at this point.

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Chelsea’s pursuit of Victor Osimhen likely to be revived after latest news

Jason Pettigrove — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 05:48:31 +0000

Chelsea will be determined to hit the ground running this season under Enzo Maresca.

The pressure on the Italians shoulders is likely to be almost intolerable given the evident need for league and cup success for the club’s owners, something that was seemingly beyond Mauricio Pochettino and Graham Potter, not that either were really given the time to put their methods into practice.

Just when Poch was getting things right, a decision to part by mutual consent was made.

Thomas Tuchel was also swiftly dismissed by Todd Boehly, who had evidently decided it was time for a change soon after taking over as owner of the club.

From Maresca’s point of view, the strength of the club’s transfer window this summer is likely to have a marked effect on how well Chelsea do in the first half of the campaign, which will also have a direct correlation to the manager’s own position.

One player that the Blues are known to have had in their sights for a while now is Napoli’s brilliant hit-man, Victor Osimhen.

Victor Osimhen deal could be revived by Chelsea

With a reported £113m release clause (The Standard), Osimhen’s hire by Chelsea would’ve seen them almost certainly at the top of the spending charts again, however, more recently the player has edged nearer to a move to Paris Saint-Germain.

It isn’t clear if the structure of the deal is what had seen PSG move ahead of the Blues in the race to bag the 25-year-old, however, there may yet be hope for Boehly and Co.

??? Negotiations between PSG and Napoli for Osimhen, not advancing after recent talks.

PSG rejected to include Kang-in Lee in the deal and will not trigger release clause as Napoli wanted.

Deal NOT happening under these conditions.

PSG also happy with Ramos & Kolo Muani. pic.twitter.com/R46085YcyQ

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 22, 2024

According to a post on X (formerly Twitter) from CaughtOffside columnist and transfer expert, Fabrizio Romano, talks between the French giants and their Italian counterparts have stalled.

That could see Boehly revive Chelsea’s interest in a player who would be the perfect replacement for Romelu Lukaku – the Belgian surely going the other way as part of any deal.

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More disappointment for Chelsea as world class ace set for Barca switch

Jason Pettigrove — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 04:42:17 +0000

Unusually for Chelsea of late, they’re not having things all their own way in the transfer market.

The Blues under Todd Boehly have become an organisation that has set the pace in the summer windows, whether on incomings or outgoings.

So far this summer, they’ve seen long-term target, Victor Osimhen, potentially slip through their fingers, and though the Nigerian hit-man hasn’t yet put pen to paper on a deal with Paris Saint-Germain, he’s nearer to doing exactly that with the French giants than he is with the West London outfit.

If the American was confident of making a splash with the signing of Spain’s brilliant Nico Williams too, it looks as though that deal is destined to fail as well.

?? Barcelona are increasingly confident to get final green light from Nico Williams to contract terms.

Club now confident about having convinced Nico about the project, with La Liga approval for Finacial Fair Play as key step.

More contacts to follow this week. pic.twitter.com/sUVIjpSXY5

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 22, 2024

According to transfer expert and CaughtOffside columnist, Fabrizio Romano, the Athletic Club flyer could well be signing for Barcelona.

He notes that the Catalan giants are increasingly confident of landing one of the players of Euro 2024, and his signing could really help Barca claw themselves back towards the top table of Spanish and European football.

Barca closing in on Chelsea target Williams

There’s still the small matter of Financial Fair Play for Barca to get around, though that would appear to be a formality if the narrative coming out of Catalonia is that the club are getting close.

They surely wouldn’t advance the same unless they felt that there was a genuine chance that the player had given the ‘thumbs up’ to any deal.

What that does do of course is show Boehly that just because he has the funds to throw around, it doesn’t necessarily mean that players who are best-in-class in their position are going to want to move to Stamford Bridge.

As storied an English outfit as they are, there’s been a real churn of players over the past couple of seasons and that type of modus operandi might not suit players looking for some career stability.

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26-year-old ace’s position under threat after intriguing Chelsea transfer decision

Jason Pettigrove — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 05:39:32 +0000

With Enzo Maresca having had the chance of taking a good look at his Chelsea first-team staff in the opening couple of weeks of pre-season training, the Italian can now make informed decisions on what areas need addressing.

The Italian will be under pressure from the get go, due in no small part to Todd Boehly’s modus operandi.

Players being bought and sold with alarming regularity have become an accepted part of life at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea make intriguing transfer decision

What that ensures of course is a lack of continuity and probably goes some way to explaining why the likes of Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino struggled to get any sort of consistency to performance levels and results.

Maresca took the job knowing all of that and will need to deliver immediate success or face the same fate as his predecessors.

One decision he’s made already could have repercussions for No.1 goalkeeper, Robert Sanchez.

Robert Sanchez in action for Chelsea.

The 26-year-old will, apparently, be Maresca’s main man between the posts in 2024/25, but according to The Telegraph (subscription required), the Italian wants the club to bring in another custodian of equal ability in terms of their distribution.

The idea being that the new signing would put immediate pressure on Sanchez to either bring the best out of him, or see him demoted to No.2 – as he often had been in the past, Djordje Petrovic given the nod on those occasions.

Having strength in depth is believed to be what all managers desire of their first-team, in order that there’s no drop off in quality should a player be injured or unavailable.

However, the goalkeeping position is generally one where first and second choice are clearly defined.

Those football fans old enough to remember will recall the problems the England national team had when Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence were supposed ‘equals.’

It doesn’t work.

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Chelsea still paying former manager £200k-a-week until October

Darren Looney — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 15:46:37 +0000

In April 2023, Chelsea sacked Graham Potter only months into his time at Stamford Bridge and the Blues are still paying the English coach £200,000-a-week.

The former Brighton boss was given the opportunity to take over the Premier League giants in September 2022 following the dismissal of Thomas Tuchel, with Potter penning a five-year deal with the West London team.

However, the 49-year-old could not turn around the mess that Chelsea team were in and he was ultimately sacked after just six months.

According to The Daily Mail’s Mike Keegan, the Premier League club are still paying Potter’s salary of around £200,000 a week, which will continue until October.

The English coach has yet to find a new club following his Stamford Bridge dismissal but has been linked to the England job following Gareth Southgate’s decision to step away from the role after the Three Lions’ Euro 2024 final defeat.

This would be a great opportunity for Potter, whose stock has not dropped much considering the failures of other coaches at Chelsea since he left.

Chelsea are still paying Graham Potter £200,000-a-week

Graham Potter situation highlights the mess Chelsea are in under current ownership group

Since the Todd Boehly-led consortium completed their £4.25bn takeover of Chelsea in 2022, the Premier League giants have been a mess. The Blues have run through a series of managers and have wasted money on several players, who have failed to gel together to make a competitive team.

The Potter situation sums their ownership up as £200,000-a-week is a huge amount of money to be paying a person not even working for the club.

The Blues have had issues with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules this summer which is not a surprise when information like this emerges.

The London club are set to go into a new season with a new manager in charge in the form of Enzo Maresca and the upcoming campaign is one where the club’s owners need to get their ducks in a row or it could be years before Chelsea are competitive again.

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Leeds exodus set to continue with major star’s agents having spoken to Chelsea

Jason Pettigrove — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 07:26:50 +0000

It’s not been the greatest summer for anyone connected with Leeds United Football Club.

A failure to get back into the Premier League at the first time of asking was always going to have lasting consequences, but with new owners at the helm, surely Leeds supporters wouldn’t have contemplated just how bad things have already becoming in terms of transfers out of players.

Archie Gray has left for Tottenham Hotspur, Glen Kamara has signed for Rennes, Charlie Cresswell is at Toulouse, Diego Llorente and Marc Roca have been signed permanently by Real Betis, Jack Harrison has gone back to Everton on loan, and the Toffees are circling for Willy Gnonto.

Leeds ace Crysencio Summerville could sign for Chelsea

If that weren’t enough, TeamTalk note that the undoubted star of Daniel Farke’s side in 2023/24, Crysencio Summerville, could be on the move to Chelsea.

According to the outlet, the player’s agents have already been in talks with the West London outfit, and it’s apparently the 22-year-old’s preference to move to Stamford Bridge.

Leeds ace Crysencio Summerville to Chelsea?

With 21 goals and nine assists last season, per WhoScored, it’s no wonder that the Blues appear interested, and his loss would be keenly felt by Leeds, perhaps more than any other player.

It would certainly make Farke’s job of trying to get the all whites up again that much more difficult.

They can consider themselves unlucky that a wobble came right at the end of the 2023/24 campaign ultimately condemning them to the lottery of the Play-Offs.

Whatever form they’d shown previously deserted them in the final, with victors, Southampton, taking their place amongst England’s elite.

With so many players moving on from Leeds this summer, it’ll be harder than ever for Farke, and the potential loss of Summerville will underscore the difficulties that lie ahead.

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Chelsea’s plans in tatters as Blues all set to lose out on main summer transfer target

Jason Pettigrove — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 05:38:18 +0000

Chelsea’s summer transfer plans are set to take an unexpected twist, with the Blues potentially missing out on their main target.

Since Todd Boehly took over at Stamford Bridge, no player has been out of reach for the club, no matter what the cost.

Indeed, aside from any of the other transfers made, Boehly broke the British transfer record twice with moves for Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo.

Victor Osimhen to move to PSG not Chelsea

It was very much a case of what Boehly wants, Boehly gets.

However, Napoli ace, Victor Osimhem, a long-term target for the West London club’s owner, now appears to be moving towards a switch to Paris Saint-Germain (TeamTalk).

Now that ex-Ligue Un and PSG hot shot, Kylian Mbappe, has moved on to Real Madrid, the French giants need a big name to satisfy those fans desperate to see the club land a coveted Champions League title.

Victor Osimhen looks set to move to PSG rather than Chelsea

Osimhen’s star has waned a little since showing the form that helped land Napoli a first Scudetto in three decades, though he remains a deadly marksman.

In a poor Napoli side in 2023/24, he still managed to plunder 17 goals and three assists (WhoScored).

It’s no wonder Chelsea were interested, but their apparent reticence to meet Napoli’s demands on Osimhen’s sale price has let in PSG.

Although there is a small silver lining in that Romelu Lukaku will leave Chelsea for Napoli once Osimhen has departed, the fact that the latter will likely be moving to Paris rather than London will undoubtedly stick in Boehly’s craw and dent his ego.

If new manager, Enzo Maresca, were thinking of building his new squad around the Nigerian too, he’ll need to think again, and Chelsea’s long-suffering supporters are unlikely to be excited by the prospect of a front line that includes Nicolas Jackson and Armando Broja.

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Exclusive: Chelsea and Newcastle ahead of rivals in chase for €30m-rated Euro 2024 ace

Jason Pettigrove — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 04:40:24 +0000

Euro 2024 perhaps hasn’t been the best international tournament in terms of excitement, however, one or two gems have emerged and both Chelsea and Newcastle are readying themselves to take advantage of one particular player’s contract situation.

According to CaughtOffside sources with knowledge of the most up to date discussions surrounding RB Salzburg’s 23-year-old Serbian defender Strahinja Pavlovic, the Blues and the Magpies are leading a five club chase for his services.

Chelsea want Strahinja Pavlovic

AC Milan, Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers have been credited with a strong interest in Pavlovic, who is also appreciated by many other clubs thanks to the standard of his performances in the European Championship.

Milan are known to have offered Pavlovic an annual salary of between €1.5m and €2m, however, CaughtOffside sources are aware that the Premier League clubs are willing to better this.

Strahinja Pavlovic is wanted by both Chelsea and Newcastle

Further, Milan consider the asking price of €30m too high at this stage and are ready to make an opening offer of around €20m.

This would again put them at a disadvantage in the race to land the player as sources indicate that both Chelsea and Newcastle will open their bidding at €25m.

Pavlovic began his professional career at Partizan Belgrade before an unsuccessful two-year spell at AS Monaco, which also included two loan moves to Cercle Brugge and Basel.

The 23-year-old has been with RB Salzburg since 2022, and those ‘shop window’ displays in Germany have really put him on the map, hence the interest from teams in the English and Italian top flights.

What isn’t clear at this stage is the player’s own preference for his next playing destination, though this may be dictated by which club puts the most money on the table both in terms of remuneration for Pavlovic himself, and transfer fee due to RB Salzburg.

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£50m-rated Euro 2024 ace of no interest to Chelsea this summer

Jason Pettigrove — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 05:43:22 +0000

Chelsea have an important few weeks ahead of them as new manager, Enzo Maresca, gets to grips with first-team squad, but one Euro 2024 ace won’t be joining the club this summer.

Under Todd Boehly it has seemed that money is no object when it comes to bringing in new faces.

Both Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo cost north of £100m, with an incredibly high turnover of staff ensuring that the club has broken the £1bn barrier over the past few seasons.

How to buy tickets for England vs Spain

Despite this, the Blues are still nowhere close to landing a trophy and that’s what Maresca will be expected to deliver.

It’s a big ask considering the moving parts, though it can’t be said that the Italian didn’t know what he was getting himself into before putting pen to paper.

He’ll have to back himself to come up with the ingredients that Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, Frank Lampard and Mauricio Pochettino didn’t have.

Dani Olmo has been looked at by Chelsea

One player that had previously been linked with the club is RB Leipzig’s Spain international, Dani Olmo.

The 26-year-old has had a sensational Euro 2024 so far and will arguably be one of the protagonists in Sunday’s final against England.

He won’t be joining Chelsea thereafter though.

Despite it being understood that Olmo’s £50m release clause remains in place until next week, according to Sky Sports, the West Lononders are happy with their current attacking midfield options in Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Christopher Nkunku and Cole Palmer.

With a while to go in the transfer window, there are sure to be more sales and additions at Stamford Bridge, but Olmo will need to look elsewhere for his next club it seems.

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