TOP STORY: Chelsea plan January spending

Chelsea had a busy summer transfer window and are ready to continue being active when January arrives as they aim to improve their midfield, reports The Evening Standard.

They failed with a late £50 million attempt to sign Southampton's Romeo Lavia -- who had not long joined the Saints from Manchester City -- having already missed out on Ajax Amsterdam's Edson Alvarez after offering £40m.

They also had a late offer for PSV Eindhoven's Ibrahim Sangare rejected, although they did bring in Denis Zakaria on loan from Juventus.

However, they still haven't given up on recruiting further and Mexico international Alvarez remains their favoured option as they look to revisit that position in the winter.

There will be encouragement as the 24-year-old reportedly told Ajax that he wanted to move to Stamford Bridge, although the Eredivisie giants insisted he wasn't able to leave so late in the window.

Chelsea aren't stopping there. They are also working to sign 19-year-old attacking midfielder Arsen Zakharyan from Dinamo Moscow.

The Blues looked at Zakharyan during the summer but it was deemed impossible to sign him due to sanctions the west have placed on Russia.

The ongoing invasion of Ukraine has made it difficult to sign players from Russia, limiting the ability to pay transfer fees or for players to move between countries.

Chelsea are willing to work to find a solution in the coming months to see Zakharyan join for the £12.6m fee in his release clause.

PAPER GOSSIP

- Alberto Lunghi has caught the attentions of Internazionale and Fiorentina after terminating his contract with Perugia, as reported by Calciomercato. This comes two years after Juventus strongly wanted to sign the winger and were ready to submit an offer close to €1m for the now 19-year-old.

- Lille have confirmed that Yusuf Yazici has joined Trabzonspor on loan for the 2022-23 campaign. Yazici went through Trabzonspor's academy before joining Lille in 2019 and the Turkey international spent the second half of last season on loan with CSKA Moscow.

- After his earlier report, Fabrizio Romano has now said that Barcelona midfielder Miralem Pjanic could fly to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday. Once he's there, details will be discussed for a possible three-year deal before the Bosnia & Herzegovina international signs for Sharjah FC.

- Lorient have completed the signing of Yoann Cathline from Guingamp. L'Equipe explain that the striker has joined the Ligue 1 side after signing a contract that will last until 2027, while Guingamp have received €2.7m with a possible €1m in bonuses.

Source:
courtesy of ESPN

by Danny Lewis

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]