Chelsea have been offered the chance to potentially sign a Barcelona player by intermediaries, who are actively contacting Premier League sides to gauge their interest in striking a transfer deal for him.
The top-four chasers take on Aston Villa in the Premier League this evening off the back of a torrid run, and manager Enzo Maresca is currently having to deal with mounting injury problems.
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Nicolas Jackson, Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, Roméo Lavia, Marc Guiu and Noni Madueke are all out and unavailable for Chelsea for today’s late clash at Villa Park, leaving Maresca short of attacking options in particular.
|
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 |
Luckily for Chelsea, Unai Emery’s side are on a similarly bad run coming into this game. They’re without a league win from their last five top-flight encounters, with their last set of three points coming away to Everton back in mid-January.
Nevertheless, Maresca recognises the tough task facing his side in the Midlands. “I think we spent almost the whole season in the top four,” said Maresca on Chelsea’s form and Aston Villa.
“Now we have just 13 games to go, so for sure now, the target for us now is to try and finish in the top four – to finish in the best way. We are going to try to do our best to achieve that, knowing that the difficult moment we have now is probably one of the reasons why, and the most important reason why, is because of the injury situation; we have five or six players, significant players, that are out.
“I was watching two days ago the first game against Villa, and unfortunately, we have five players in that game that are out. Wes, Noni, Nico, Romeo – so the team changed completely, and it’s something this season happens almost with many clubs. Arsenal have injuries, City have injuries, and we are going to try our best to win games even with the amount of injuries we have.”
Lavia’s injury prompted Chelsea to sign Mathis Amougou from Saint-Étienne in January, with the 19-year-old set to be a first-team player for the remainder of 2024/25 before heading out on loan to sister Strasbourg next campaign.
Given Amougou won’t be at Stamford Bridge for 2025/26, reports have suggested that Chelsea could target Man United midfielder Kobbie Mainoo this summer after showing some interest in January.
Now, as per journalist Graeme Bailey and The Boot Room, £302,000-per-week Barcelona star Frenkie de Jong is an option for the Blues as well.
It is believed that Chelsea have been contacted by agents about signing De Jong, who are making suitors aware of his potential availability and testing the water to see which clubs could bite heading into the next transfer window.
The Dutchman has struggled with injuries and a lack of consistent opportunities under Hansi Flick this season, and De Jong’s contract expires in 2026, meaning he could leave for a relatively cheap fee if Chelsea were to pursue a move.