Incoming – Defenders
John Stones – The “Stones to Chelsea” saga seemingly will never end. I don’t see Chelsea, with their lack of Champions League football and the resulting tightening of the fiscal belts, signing the homegrown premium-priced Stones.
Everton put on a negotiating master class in almost every deal that they make and John Stones is unlikely to cost anything less than £40 million to whoever does eventually end up purchasing him. Considering that some of Chelsea’s strongest youth team players are defenders I don’t see this move happening as he is pretty much the English and less consistent version of the soon to be returning Andreas Christensen.
Leonardo Bonucci – This is one of the transfers that I am more confident will happen. With John Terry on his way out the door, Kurt Zouma injured, and Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic both playing as half the men they used to be it will be necessary for Conte to establish a bedrock defense early.
Bonucci is not yet 30-years-old and would be able to help ingratiate many of Conte’s ideas into the team as well as set a good example for the young crop of defenders Chelsea are trying to bring through (Zouma, Clarke-Salter, Miazga, Christensen). His age also means that his fee should not be overly hefty.
Kwadwo Asamoah – One of the more recent stories in the press has been the apparent interest of Conte in Juventus left-sided powerhouse Kwadwo Asamoah. This does appear to make plenty of sense as the problem area for multiple years at Chelsea has been the left back position.
Conte will be wanting a mobile, hardworking player to fill this void and Asamoah seems to fit the bill. However, it is important to note that he is a Juventus player; I don’t believe Juventus will be willing to sell beyond two players to the Blues in one summer.
Next: Incoming - Central Midfield