Chelsea’s poor preseason and start to the Premier League season was always going to lead to this.
[ MORE: Coutinho update from Liverpool ]
The Daily Mirror reports that the Blues will kick on with deals for three Premier League regulars with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Danny Drinkwater and Virgil van Dijk top of Antonio Conte’s wishlist.
Following their 3-2 opening day defeat to Burnley at Stamford Bridge it is believed Roman Abramovich is now willing to back Conte heavily to help his rebuild of the reigning champions.
Conte has repeated his need for quality new additions on numerous occasions over the last month but with just over two weeks to go until the transfer window slams shut, Chelsea have brought in four new players this summer in Willy Caballero (free), Antonio Rudiger ($42 million), Tiemoue Bakayoko ($52 million) and Alvaro Morata ($77 million) but Rudiger and Morata are lacking match fitness and Bakayoko is out injured.
Per the report Chelsea want Oxlade-Chamberlain, 24, and will bid around $43 million for the versatile Arsenal and England man. Oxlade-Chamberlain has just one year left on his current contract at Arsenal and although Arsene Wenger has said the Ox, and others, are not for sale, could a big bid from their PL rivals really see him leave? If Arsenal doesn’t sell Oxlade-Chamberlain now they risk losing him for nothing next summer.
As for Drinkwater, 27, the England international did not feature for Leicester City last week against Arsenal through injury but the Foxes are stacked in midfield with Wilfried Ndidi, Andy King, Vicente Iborra and Matty James around at the King Power Stadium.
Chelsea’s opening offer of $22 million was laughed away by Leicester but with N’Golo Kante, the injured Bakayoko, youngster Jeremie Boga and Cesc Fabregas the only central midfield options for Conte after he sold Nemanja Matic to Manchester United, it is an area he wants to strengthen and Chelsea will offer closer to $30 million for Drinkwater.
Drinkwater is said to be keen on the move to west London to try and force himself back into the England setup, but will he really play regularly for the Blues? One thing is for sure, Drinkwater’s partnership alongside Kante is one which dominate the Premier League in 2015-16.
Finally there is no surprise Chelsea are targeting Southampton’s wantaway star Virgil van Dijk who is said to be valued at over $75 million by Saints. Given Chelsea’s shaky defensive displays in preseason they’ll need an addition to their defense to help shore things up.
The Dutch defender, 26, has handed in a transfer request and although Southampton insist their star center back isn’t for sale, if a big offer comes in from the reigning champions they’d be more willing to sell to Chelsea than Liverpool who issued an apology earlier this summer after reports VVD was “tapped up” by Reds boss Jurgen Klopp. In Chelsea’s 3-4-3 system van Dijk would flourish and he’d be encouraged to bring the ball out from the back and link defense with attack. He hasn’t kicked a ball competitively since injuring his foot in January, which will be a slight concern for Chelsea, but his quality is undoubted both defensively and on the ball.