Chelsea could end up making a January move for one “£100 million” star and his transfer is a “real possibility”.
Who have Chelsea signed 2023?
Mauricio Pochettino saw his squad significantly reinforced over the summer window by Blues transfer chiefs Todd Boehly, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.
Indeed, Chelsea sealed eight major arrivals in total with Christopher Nkunku, Axel Disasi, Nicolas Jackson, Lesley Ugochukwu, Robert Sanchez, Romeo Lavia, Moises Caicedo and Cole Palmer joining the club.
Project signings like Djordje Petrovic, Angelo and Deivid Washington also put pen to paper on moves to Stamford Bridge, with their outlay totalling £397 million.
To balance the books and abide by financial fair play laws, Chelsea saw Kalidou Koulibaly, N’Golo Kante, Edouard Mendy, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount, Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Cesar Azpilicueta, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ethan Ampadu and Callum Hudson-Odoi all move in the opposite direction.
How are Chelsea doing?
So far, Pochettino’s start to life in west London has been a really mixed bag. Chelsea won their first game of the new Premier League season with a 3-0 home victory over newly-promoted Luton Town.
However, they’ve dropped points in all of their other encounters; drawing at home to Liverpool on the opening day while losing to both West Ham and, most recently, Nottingham Forest.
“Very frustrating result and everyone is very disappointed in the changing room right now,” explained defender Ben Chilwell after their 1-0 loss to Forest.
“If you look at the stats we dominated the game, had the possession, but the most important stat is the goals. We lost in that department and lost the game, that is the black and white of it and we need to improve.”
Who are Chelsea linked with?
Despite their serious summer spending yet again, the Blues could move to make further signings in the winter transfer window, which opens in little under four months.
Chelsea didn’t sign a star, out-and-out centre-forward in the summer but could move to rectify that swiftly.
That is according to journalist Pete O’Rourke, who writes for Football Insider that they may well make a move to bring in Brentford star Ivan Toney.
The Englishman is currently serving a ban for gambling breaches but is set to return soon after the new year; something which has seemingly attracted Pochettino’s interest.
Toney is also set to resume first team training on September 17, and Chelsea are “interested” in bringing him to the club next year.
There was apparently no chance of the striker departing over the summer, given his ban, but now a January switch is considered a “real possibility”.
How good is Ivan Toney?
Scoring 20 goals in 33 starts for Brentford in the top flight last season, Toney stands out as one of England’s most prolific strikers when playing.
Bees boss Thomas Frank has even said he’s worth £100 million; having also heaped praise on the 27-year-old’s intelligent style of play.
“Ivan is very intelligent, because he’s reflecting, and he deserves a lot of praise himself for also coming into a well-run club and listening to all the small bits and adding extra layers to his development and performance,” Frank said in 2021.
If you want to be a top player you need to work hard, constantly reflect and want to learn and then of course you need to have that confidence that he’s got so naturally.
“He’s coming across so fantastically: he’s humble, calm, but with a mindset of a lion.”
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