Despite claiming it’s only the FA Community Shield, our resident Chelsea fans in the Football Transfer Tavern still can’t stand losing to London rivals Arsenal and have been ordering their fair share of stiff drinks since yesterday afternoon.
It was Arsene Wenger’s first win against a Chelsea side led by Jose Mourinho in 14 attempts and following the Premier League curtain raiser, some Blues fans think there is still a few questions to be answered by their club this summer.
One of these questions surrounds who will be brought in at left back to cover for the now departed Filipe Luis and at present, everything points towards FC Augbsurg’s Baba Rahman becoming a Blue in a matter of hours.
The Ghanaian international is reportedly closing in on a Stamford Bridge switch at the moment with Augsburg coach Markus Weinzierl having even claimed he’d rather a deal was concluded sooner rather than later so they can source their own replacement.
While he’s not an instantly recognisable name for most Chelsea fans, Rahman was part of an Augsburg team that impressively finished in fifth place in the Bundesliga last term.
But the question on the lips of our Blues fans this evening is whether Rahman will turn out to be their last arrival of the summer.
With Chelsea still being linked with several other names to boot, we take a look at five Blues transfer targets who could end up following Rahman to West London in the remainder of the transfer window.
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Click on the image below to reveal the 5 players to follow Baba Rahman to Chelsea this summer.
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John Stones
Linked heavily with Chelsea for the past few weeks now, the Blues have already seen two bids turned down for the Everton centre back but our resident Chelsea supporters are hoping it will be third time lucky in their much publicised pursuit.
The latest on Stones’ situation was reported by The Telegraph who claim the Blues could be forced to give up on their pursuit of the England international with Roberto Martinez yet again reaffirming the Toffees’ desire to keep hold of the player.
Thus far this summer, we’ve heard nothing from the player himself to suggest he will 100 per cent be staying at Goodison Park this transfer window and for a player aged just 21-year-old, we’d imagine he may have had his head turned behind the scenes.
You’d imagine that Chelsea might try one more time to better the £26 million they offered for Stones most recently and perhaps £30 million (ridiculous we know!) might finally do it, alongside firmer intentions from the player of course.
Marcus Bettinelli
While Chelsea moved swiftly to sign up Asmir Begovic from Stoke City as Petr Cech’s replacement this summer, more recently they have been linked with more goalkeeping reinforcements.
These come in the form of Fulham number one Marcus Bettinelli who missed the Cottagers’ final pre-season fixture against Crystal Palace at the weekend.
While Get West London Sport claim he missed the fixture with a tweaked hamstring, his absence has done nothing to dampen the speculation that he could be set for a move away from Craven Cottage.
Fulham boss Kit Symons has already swooped to sign the experienced Andy Lonergan this summer and given his suitability to the Championship, perhaps he’ll be the number one and England Under-21 international Bettinelli will be moved on.
Unlikely to be content as a third choice selection at Chelsea, if he signed for the Blues, we could see him securing a loan switch away back into the Football League.
Jose Callejon
Despite Chelsea being overstocked in the wide midfield areas, the Blues are still being heavily linked with a switch for Napoli’s Jose Callejon.
The Spanish international has also reportedly been targeted by Arsenal this summer but renowned for playing hardball with their players, Napoli are demanding a bid close to the £30 million mark this transfer window.
On the face of it, given Victor Moses’ renaissance in Jose Mourinho’s plans, perhaps the Callejon rumours are wide of the mark but if Juan Cuadrado is finally given up upon in the latter stages of the window, in addition with Mohamed Salah’s exit of course, perhaps a swoop for the Spaniard could become reality.
If these jigsaw pieces don’t fall into place however, we can’t see Callejon rocking up at Stamford Bridge.
Charlie Austin
Of most players that really impressed on a personal level last term, it is rather strange that nobody has made a concrete play for Charlie Austin’s services this summer.
Linked with the likes of Newcastle United and Tottenham this transfer window, the seemingly good fit of a striker remains at QPR with just a week to go until the start of the new Championship season.
Despite enjoying his time at Loftus Road where he is idolised by the fans, Austin had a taste of getting into the senior England squad at the tail end of last season and you’d imagine the player has a burning desire to remain in the top flight.
Back in July, Eurosport reported a unique angle that Austin was holding out for a move from Chelsea and that could explain the lack of concrete interest in the striker.
With Diego Costa having missed the Community Shield through injury, many Blues fans are now starting to panic whether Radamel Falcao and Loic Remy are good enough to stand up while scoring the goals in his absence.
To add somebody like Austin, whilst either retaining or losing Remy, Chelsea would be acquiring a striker who scored 18 goals for a struggling side last term and after all, he wouldn’t have to move far!
Axel Witsel
Having already spoken out on the prospect of Chelsea signing Axel Witsel last month, Blues boss Jose Mourinho claimed he currently has no space for a new central midfielder with Nemanja Matic, Cesc Fabregas, Ramires, John Obi Mikel, Oscar and Ruben Loftus-Cheek already in the ranks.
But with Ramires not covering himself in glory yesterday, not to mention John Obi Mikel having admitted he could be on the move earlier this summer, perhaps a few circumstances might mean they go back in for Witsel in the latter stages of the window.
In Loftus-Cheek as well, he knows he might need to secure a loan switch away from Stamford Bridge to achieve regular playing chances so we’re not ruling out a switch for Witsel entirely.
While the news has gone cold of late, expect the Belgian international’s name to be brought up again if any movement occurs with the aforementioned midfield names.
