Chelsea's impending new owners plan to launch ambitious move for Barcelona superstar: Reports
Chelsea are reportedly looking to reopen talks with Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele once the Todd Boehly-led consortium's Blues takeover is complete. They are one of the clubs chasing the Frenchman, who will be out of contract this summer.
As per a report in 90min, Chelsea are waiting for the takeover to be completed to get back to transfer business. The current sanctions on the club have prevented them from any transfer activity, and they cannot even hand new contracts to their current players.
Ousmane Dembele to begin talks with Chelsea twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…
The report claims that Paris Saint-Germain are the other side chasing the Barcelona star this summer. The Catalan side have not given up on the player and are in active talks to renew his contract.
Dembele has scored one goal and made 13 assists in 20 league appearances this season. He has renewed his career since Xavi took over as Barcelona manager in November 2021.
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel on Ousmane Dembele
Thomas Tuchel has worked with Ousmane Dembele while at Borussia Dortmund and has very good things to say about the winger. He believes the forward is an incredible player, but a little crazy.
Back in 2019, Tuchel said on Goal:
"Ousmane is an incredible player, he's really talented. I could watch his amazing skills in every training session. He's also a great human being. He's a little crazy. He's a really nice boy but a little crazy. He loves to laugh but can also have very serious conversations. It's never boring with him. If he's focused enough, he can reach any level."
He added:
"When I talked to him for the very first time, he told me that he wanted to play for Barcelona. That's where he is now. It means he can reach any level, but he needs to remain focused and improve each day."
Ousmane Dembélé is wanted by Chelsea. 👀
Once Dembele was linked with Chelsea in January, the media quizzed Tuchel again and he said (via Talksport):
"He's a very good player in his top level and I'm very fortunate to have trained him in my time at Dortmund. It was only one year, it should've been longer but I needed to leave and he decided to leave. From there we haven't been in the closest contact, we've met here and there because of his duties for the French national team and I was in Paris so this was more or less for when they were preparing for international duties. It's very near Paris so this is where we met and exchanged some messages."
Chelsea are working on getting the ownership takeover complete, and are in the final stages.