Chelsea interested in Jadon Sancho, plus all the rest of your latest Chelsea news snippets
A 'quick' fire round delivering you the latest Chelsea FC news!
Well, it’s the final few hours of the social media boycott and I will be back on your Twitter timelines tomorrow. I have no idea if what we have done here will make, or has made any difference, but if it has even made one person think twice about mindlessly abusing someone on social media over the weekend, then at least that is something.
So once again in the absence of my usual tweet updates, I have put together some of the latest Chelsea FC news that you may have missed.
You won’t see my usual newsletter that is normally out every Tuesday this week, these updates over the last few days are instead of that really, and I cover all your news here.
First of all, a massive congratulations to the Chelsea women’s team, who qualified for the final of the Champions League on Sunday, beating Bayern Munich 5-3 on aggregate, overturning a 2-1 first-leg deficit to win 4-1 and reach the final against Barcelona on 16 May.
It’s the first time they have got to the final of the Champions League, and what an achievement it is for Emma Hayes and the squad.
Let’s hope the men’s team join them, can you even imagine that, both teams in the Champions League final in the same season? Unreal scenes if it happens, limbs, chairs, pizzas, pets, wives, husbands everywhere if we both win it… !
Woah there reel yourself back in Simon, let’s behave…. But anything CAN happen right!?
Next up, German publication BILD have thrown Chelsea’s name back in the hat to sign Jadon Sancho from Dortmund this summer and I am not surprised in the slightest.
Sancho has many admirers at Chelsea, and a few of those are from some pretty high up members of our board. So the fact it looks like he has become available this summer, I was always expecting our name to be strongly linked once again.
Does that mean we will even make a move to sign him? No, but again, it’s certainly a link to keep an eye on, and BILD claim we are ‘very much in the picture’ to sign him.
Meanwhile, West Ham boss David Moyes has said that his club do not have the money to sign Tammy Abraham this summer.
But as I reported recently, they have a strong interest in Tammy and are monitoring the situation closely.
However, if they don’t have the cash, they most certainly have a player that Chelsea are still interested in signing… Swap deal anyone?
Erling Haaland is not leaving this summer, according to Dormund’s CEO.
Right, sure. We have heard that before.
This isn’t saying he will definitely leave, because he could most certainly still be saying. But the golden rule here is NEVER listen to owners, players, CEO’s, managers or agents etc when talking about transfer news - They can RARELY actually be honest in responses.
Romelu Lukaku has just won the league with Inter Milan, and our man Fabrizio Romano says he isn’t planning on leaving Inter this summer.
Again, whilst Fab IS being honest here and we know how reliable he is, plans CAN change. Inter are in a bad financial situation and waiting on investors, if they don’t come then expect to see some of their big players leave despite winning the league.
So what if we can’t get any of our main striker targets this summer? Well, I’ve said it before but Chelsea’s interest in Sergio Aguero is more than legit. I know he is reportedly close to signing for Barcelona, and I’m not saying that isn’t true. However, I would still not rule him out coming to Chelsea for a season until say we can sign an Erling Haaland or Romelu Lukaku.
Who else would you like to see us go for up top guys if we can’t get either of Haaland or Lukaku? Ping your answers in the comments section!
Meanwhile, Thomas Tuchel’s response to asking how Chelsea will deal with the return of Sergio Ramos into the Real Madrid line up on Wednesday night was typically hilarious…..
He said:
“If we play with no striker at all and Ramos has nothing to fight then that can also be a solution. I have not made my mind up yet.
“It’s another challenge because he is the leader of their group and he is the guy to give a lot of solutions to any questions that we will hopefully ask them.
“We will wait and see who is in good shape and good form, what shape we play and where we try to hurt them. I’m not too sure if they will play again with five or go back to four [in defence] so there are many questions but we don’t need the answers now. It’s enough if we have them on Wednesday.”
Real Madrid will be without Raphael Varane though, this has now been confirmed on their website.
Chelsea look likely to still be without Mateo Kovacic, although there is a chance he makes it with a late fitness test.
Antonio Rudiger will be available, but he will have to wear a face mask (no not a covid-19 one you daft beggar!)
Other than that, we are expecting a fully fit squad unless any late pull outs ahead of another MASSIVE Champions League match.
The ball is in our court and we know a 0-0 draw will see us into the final, but we must go out and attack them like we did in the first game and take it to them, but at the same time be smart about not overloading and keeping solid at the back.
We outplayed them last match, there is no reason why we cannot do it again even though they are now chasing the game. Like I’ve said on the Pod a few times now though, I’d much rather face a top side under Tuchel than a weaker one right now!
The lads have all been supporting Timo Werner again this week and Edouard Mendy joined Cesar Azpilicueta and Jorginho in publicly giving Werner confidence ahead of the big game Wednesday, and Mendy believes we will really see the best of Werner and Kai Havertz at the start of next season.
“They are really good players,” Mendy said on Monday.
“They are young players and it is the first time that they have moved to another country. I think they needed a couple of months to adjust and understand the Premier League but I see them every day and I know how good they are.
“I am happy for them. They showed their qualities on the pitch [vs Fulham].
“Next season, 100 per cent, we will see the best of Timo and Kai. Even this year, we have enjoyed their good levels of performance and they are important for us. A game like Saturday’s is really good for their confidence.”
I’m really enjoying Mendy’s wise words lately, it seems like the leadership qualities he has got are really starting to come out now as well as his fine performances.
Gianluigi Donnarumma who!?
Nothing on that right now by the way, seems to have gone rather quiet.
Finally, The FA have started their enquiry into the 6 English clubs who joined the European Super League, and it doesn’t sound great for Chelsea who are likely to get some form of punishment.
One section of the statement says, “Once we have the required information, we will consider what appropriate steps to take. Clearly what happened was unacceptable and could have caused great harm to clubs at every level of English football.”
Oooops..
Anyways, enjoy the game on Wednesday, I’m actually really excited for it. Let’s make the most of being in the semi final of a Champions League and go absolutely wild if we make the final!
Have a good week guys, speak soon.
Simon Phillips (@siphillipssport)
Will he really come?
I would like to see André Silva of Eintracht Frankfurt come to Chelsea. He's 25 and should be entering his prime. He's got height in him if that's what you want in a striker. Has had 25 goals and 7 assist in 29 league games this season. Contract ends in 2023. Is valued at around 30-40 mil euros. Could be an option couldn't it?