Chelsea are now favourites to sign an England star, with the west Londoners already pushing hard ahead of the summer transfer window as they look to win the race for his signature ahead of Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.
Chelsea prepare for Aston Villa with Enzo Maresca under pressure
For the first time during his tenure in charge, manager Enzo Maresca is under a degree of pressure at Stamford Bridge, despite their exceptional start to the campaign.
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The west Londoners harbour serious ambition this summer.
Chelsea boast just three wins from their last 10 matches in all competitions, and their run of form includes humbling defeats to the likes of Ipswich Town, Fulham and Brighton.
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Chelsea’s next five Premier League fixtures |
Date |
|---|---|
|
Aston Villa (away) |
February 22nd |
|
Southampton (home) |
February 25th |
|
Leicester City (home) |
March 9th |
|
Arsenal (away) |
March 16th |
|
Tottenham (home) |
April 2nd |
There are even suggestions that Chelsea squad members are unsettled behind-the-scenes, with a mystery “top” player in the team apparently considering his long-term Stamford Bridge future (Simon Phillips).
Meanwhile, Maresca has been told by critics that Chelsea’s form must improve, or he could join the likes of Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino in being handed his P45 by Todd Boehly and BlueCo.
“If they don’t start winning games soon, especially when you look at where they were earlier this season, I think they’ll get rid of him,” said former Premier League scout Mick Brown to Football Insider.
“But if he can start to put a run of a few wins together, then the whole complexion changes. The biggest problem they’ve got at Chelsea is the lack of stability in their side. They’ve got some very good assets, but at the back the solidity just isn’t there, and that spreads throughout the team.
“So that’s a problem the manager has to address quickly to turn things around.”
Chelsea attempted to rectify their lack of solidity in January, once internally debating a move for Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi, but Stamford Bridge officials instead chose to activate Trevoh Chalobah’s recall clause.
However, reports have since claimed that Chelsea could look to move for Guehi in the summer instead after Tottenham failed with an ambitious £70 million bid for the Three Lions ace late in the winter window.
Chelsea pushing hard to sign Marc Guehi ahead of Bayern Munich
According to GiveMeSport and journalist Dean Jones, Chelsea are already pushing hard to sign Guehi ahead of the next window, with the Blues also looking to get ahead of Bayern and Spurs in the chase for their ex-player’s services.
Maresca’s side are also believed to be the current favourites to sign the 24-year-old as things stand, but it is unclear just how much Eagles chairman Steve Parish will demand for the defender.
Considering Guehi is about to enter the final 12 months of his contract, it is highly unlikely any interested side will fork out a fee of around £70 million like Spurs did in January, so Parish may well have to settle for much less.
Guehi has started all but one of Palace’s league games this season as an indispensable member of Oliver Glasner’s starting eleven, impressing for the last three seasons, so he could end up being one of the coups of the summer if he does leave Selhurst Park.