The Blues are looking to raid Premier League champions Manchester City for winger Raheem Sterling and centre-back Nathan Ake.
Chelsea are looking to strengthen across two areas of the pitch simultaneously – attack and defense. The club is on the lookout for a new attacker after agreeing to ship record-signing Romelu Lukaku back to Inter Milan and a new centre-back after losing Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen for free.
As per the Telegraph, the club believe the solutions to their problems lie with Premier League champions Manchester City. They are targeting moves for winger Raheem Sterling and central defender – and a former Chelsea player himself – Nathan Ake.
27-year-old Sterling, in the final year of his City contract, is reportedly Chelsea’s top target for one of their forward slots. As per multiple reports, the Blues have approached the Citizens with the idea of doing a deal, with the latter – and the player – open to finding an agreement instead of losing him on a free next summer.
City signed Sterling for 44 million pounds from Liverpool back in 2015 and could sell him on for a similar fee, lower than his value, to account for the time remaining in his deal.
While Sterling, who scored 131 goals in 339 appearances for the Citizens, is thought to be Chelsea’s top target, the Blues are also interested in Leeds United’s Raphinha, Everton’s Richarlison, and Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele.
The 2020/21 Champions League winners are also keen to add the left-footed Ake to their squad, per the Telegraph. The report claims that the Blues’ current manager Thomas Tuchel has held a long-standing interest in the Dutchman, back from his Borussia Dortmund days, and his versatility in playing across multiple positions is something that interests his suitors. The player himself is believed to be open to the idea of returning to Stamford Bridge.
City signed Ake in a 41 million pound deal from AFC Bournemouth in 2020, the team he had joined three years prior after failing to break into the first team of his boyhood club Chelsea themselves. He has made 40 appearances for the league champions over two seasons and won the domestic title both years.
Ake aside, the Blues are also in discussions with Juventus over the transfer of Matthijs de Ligt and Sevilla for long-term target Jules Kounde.
