Chelsea Transfer News: Blues set to hijack the deal for Manchester City target, David Luiz responds to exit rumours and more - July 9, 2018
For the last month or so, every day at Chelsea has been the same. Rumours have remained rumours and no action has been taken by the Board or the Owner as the handling of the whole situation has turned into a huge pile of mess.
Just like the fans, the players too are unsure about the future as they still don't know who will be their boss heading into the new campaign. However, the first major announcement of the off-season turned out to be a new sponsorship deal for Chelsea and when all this drama ends, the Blues fans will clearly be owed health insurance.
On that note, here are the top transfer stories of the day pertaining to Chelsea:
Blues join the hunt for Jorginho
Napoli midfielder Jorginho is one of the highly rated midfielders in European football and for quite some time, he has been heavily favoured with a move to Premier League Champions Manchester City.
But, Pep Guardiola's hopes of landing him may have been dashed momentarily as Chelsea have emerged out of nowhere and entered the contention for Jorginho, Manchester Evening News claim.
The Italian international has two years remaining on his deal and it is understood that Napoli demanded a fee higher than £50 million from City. Jorginho has previously emphasized that he would follow former Maurizio Sarri to his next job destination and the 59 year old manager could take over at Stamford Bridge soon.
Due to the disagreement in the valuation, Man City have been unable to meet terms with Napoli and the likely signing of Jorginho has gotten delayed. However, with Chelsea joining the fray for the 26-year-old, they may hold the advantage as they would look to capitalize on this situation and conclude a double deal for both the player and manager.
Chelsea suffer hit in the chase for Ndombele
Chelsea has sustained a major setback in their chase for Tanguy Ndombele as Olympique Lyon President Jean-Michel Aulas informed suitors that the midfielder is not for sale, according to the reports of Express UK.
The Blues welcomed competition from London rivals Tottenham Hotspur for the signature of Ndombele and had identified the Frenchman as a viable replacement for the in-demand N'Golo Kante.
The 21-year-old had an impressive debut campaign at Lyon, notching up 28 starts in the league and accumulated six assists.
A deep-lying midfielder, Ndombele is highly regarded for his passing and dribbling qualities along with his versatility, to switch into the position of a creator or a holding role.
Lyon is insistent on their verdict and are not resigned to losing their best players as they intend to keep their structure in place and will continue to fend off interest from major European clubs for their prized assets.
Luiz rubbishes Porto talks
Chelsea centre-back David Luiz has denied reports linking him with an exit out of Chelsea and a move to Porto, Goal understands. The 31-year-old has just 12 months remaining on his contract but could be offloaded by incoming manager Maurizio Sarri to free up space on a limited transfer budget.
Luiz laughed off the Porto links and declared that he would never make the switch to Benfica's fiercest rivals as he holds a strong affiliation with his former club where he spent four prosperous years.
The Brazilian returned to Chelsea in 2016 from Paris Saint-Germain and was immaculate in the first year of his second spell, becoming an important figure in the centre of defence as the Blues lifted the Premier League title.
However, an injury-wrecked second season decreased his playing time and Luiz was restricted to just 16 appearances in all competitions and later, fell out favour under manager Antonio Conte.
Will Chelsea be able to hijack the deal for Jorginho from Manchester City? Sound off your opinions in the comments section below!