Barcelona reportedly look to be making progress on a double transfer raid on Chelsea for defensive duo Cesar Azpilicueta and Andreas Christensen.
The Catalan giants could do with strengthening at the back, and Sport claim they’ve ‘basically agreed’ a deal to sign Azpilicueta on a three-year contract when he becomes a free agent this summer.
Sport add that Barcelona have also made an offer to Christensen and are waiting for his response, with the Denmark international also having other offers but supposedly favouring the option of a move to the Nou Camp.
There’s no sugar-coating this for Chelsea – it’s very bad news. The Blues are losing two hugely important players for nothing, and it could end up being three as Antonio Rudiger is also out of contract at the end of this season.
The west London giants will hope they can still sort out Rudiger’s future, but they also need to ensure they have replacements lined up in the transfer market.
Sevilla centre-back Jules Kounde has been linked with Chelsea by The Athletic, and seems ideal to replace these influential players, but they might need to sign one or two more in that department as well.
Barcelona would be doing some superb business to bring both Azpilicueta and Christensen in at zero cost, and it’s been a bit of a recurring theme for them in recent times as they’ve also signed big talents like Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia on free transfers.