Whilst the Chelsea players and playing staff look ahead to and prepare for the latest battle at Stamford Bridge with Tottenham Hotspur, transfer intentions, plans and actions continue on Fulham Road and elsewhere. There is a clamour for news on the approach for the dynamic as well as technically gifted Wesley Fofana of Leicester City, which Pride of London has assessed. Basically, LCFC’s stance of ‘not for sale’ now seems slightly unrealistic, especially considering that every footballer has a price. The offers are getting closer to the actual £85million requested fee. Personal terms are said to be accepted. I imagine a deal will be completed this coming week.
Fascinating revelations concerning currently unwanted loanee Romelu Lukaku have emerged recently. Amazingly, it appears that head coach Thomas Tuchel was willing to give the Belgium international ‘another chance’ at Chels‘ in 2022/23. Yet Lukaku was reluctant to stay at CFC. Instead the 29-year-old requested to move back to Inter Milan, even if that meant a temporary contract. Furthermore, Tuchel admitted he was disappointed with the striker’s last campaign in West London. However, the boss refused to ‘point the finger’ of blame solely at Lukaku; the athlete was also saddened with his second stint at the club.
Chelsea’s bid for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been rejected, while Blues fans offered verdicts on a potential transfer
Moving on to analysing another piece of speculation now, one which was always going to create headlines and stir up feeling among the Blues fan base: the apparent pursuit of former Arsenal star Aubameyang. Aubameyang is a supremely talented player who contains a capacity to influence and possibly secure the outcome of any match.
Though there is an ego to massage, and tardiness, etcetera which eradicates some of the positiveness surrounding the attacker. Nevertheless, I feel – as Tuchel and Todd Boehly clearly do – that Chelsea require another specialist centreforward on the roster.
Maybe this measure only needs to be duly taken because Armando Broja is an unknown quantity at the Bridge, at present. Though I have backed the Albanian to succeed with CFC in general, as you will know if you’ve read my view on the matter previously. How much involvement Broja will be afforded still remains to be seen, with the ball firmly in Tuchel’s court.
With respect to Aubameyang, I envision goals, and quite a few of them if he chooses to accept the offer. It appears his current side, Barcelona – the nemesis, surprising partner and occasional benefactor of this uneven Chels transfer window – have rejected a bid for their attacker. Apparently a rather fair and reasonable ‘first verbal offer of €14M’ was declined for Aubameyang by Blaugrana. According to the report, Barca are seeking in excess of €20M.
Move on he is not worth that much
— peter simango (@rasimati12) August 14, 2022
‘Auba’ was already a dividing name connected with Chelsea, partly due to being a former Gunner. Now FCB are turning the screws and attempting to profit from a recent free switch, CFC supporters appear even less keen on a deal. One of many opinions taken from Twitter appears above.
We know Aubameyang and Tuchel had a sometimes fraught but massively fruitful relationship, which still implies a gamble for the English team. Nevertheless, the former usually gets the job done, and, again, fits the contemporary Chelsea system. However, the club are reportedly only willing to shell out €12.5M on the Gabonese.