Chelsea are prepared to make another move for a “fantastic” BlueCo target after already seeing an offer rejected, according to a new report.
Chelsea enjoy big spending summer but still lack in key areas
Last summer, Enzo Maresca’s side marked themselves out as the Premier League’s second-biggest spenders behind champions Liverpool — splashing north of £280 million on new recruits.
Chelsea balanced out this major squad investment by agreeing a plethora of player sales over the course of the window, so much so that they actually a registered a negative net spend and made a small profit.
The Premier League’s biggest summer spenders
Team
Spent
Received
Net Spend
Liverpool
£415,000,000
£187,000,000
£228,000,000
Chelsea
£285,000,000
£288,000,000
-£3,000,000
Arsenal
£255,000,000
£9,000,000
£246,000,000
Newcastle
£250,000,000
£152,000,000
£98,000,000
Man Utd
£216,000,000
£68,000,000
£148,000,000
Nottm Forest
£205,000,000
£107,000,000
£98,000,000
Tottenham
£181,000,000
£36,000,000
£145,000,000
Sunderland
£162,000,000
£44,000,000
£118,000,000
Man City
£152,000,000
£53,000,000
£99,000,000
West Ham
£124,000,000
£55,000,000
£69,000,000
via BBC
From a purely business perspective, the summer was an undoubted success, and Maresca watched the likes of teenage sensation Estevao – who just scored a winner against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge – Liam Delap, Joao Pedro, Jamie Gittens and Alejandro Garnacho all come in to bolster his attacking options.
However, bar the signing of young defender Jorrel Hato from Ajax, Chelsea finished the window short of new options for their backline.
After Levi Colwill’s ACL injury, which is expected to keep him out for most of 2025/2026, Maresca was clear that he wanted another centre-back and publicly urged the club to sign one before deadline day on September 1.
This wasn’t to be, leaving the west Londoners pretty short of quality in a key area, while Chelsea’s attempts to sign another goalkeeper also faltered.
Maresca is believed to be unhappy with his current Chelsea squad (Simon Phillips), but reports suggest that they’re set to try and back the Italian with a proven defender in January (Pete O’Rourke).
Meanwhile, given Delap will take a while to get back up to speed once he returns from injury, Chelsea are also looking at new striker options for the winter market — who’d come in for a cheap fee, on loan or are possibly already owned by BlueCo (Simon Phillips).
Chelsea could even choose to bring in another winger, specifically Juventus sensation Kenan Yildiz.
Chelsea to make second Kenan Yildz approach after rejected £61m offer
Fabrizio Romano has already confirmed that Chelsea are “very interested” in Yildiz, and now a report from Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport has shed more light on the situation.
According to their information, Chelsea had a £61m million bid rejected for the Turkey international rejected last summer, but Maresca’s side aren’t resigned to giving up on his signing just yet.
It is believed that Chelsea will make a second approach for Yildiz, with the Old Lady running into some delay regarding his new contract and the Stamford Bridge side sensing an opportunity to take him from Turin.
The 20-year-old was Juve’s star forward last season, racking up 12 goals and nine assists in all competitions, totalling 21 contributions, and he averaged the highest Serie A match rating out of all of his teammates with more than 15 starts (WhoScored).
He’s started this campaign in equally imperious fashion, averaging more shots and key passes per 90 than any other Juve player in the top flight (WhoScored), but Romano says that the Premier League isn’t that tempting for him right now amid renewal talks.
“If Yildiz had wanted to move to the Premier League, I assure you he could have done so at the start of the transfer window,” Romano said on his YouTube channel in Italian recently.
“Chelsea have always been very interested, and the Premier League’s interest remains because Yildiz is a fantastic player, so it’s normal to see the attention of the big clubs.
“But Juventus, as I said, is working on a renewal and is optimistic; they want to reach a solution as soon as possible to ward off any other temptation for a champion like Kenan Yildiz.”
