Chelsea have a threadbare squad ahead of the new season and the Blues fans in the Football Transfer Tavern are concerned for their side.

Antonio Conte has allowed 26 players leave so far this summer, such as Nathan Ake, Kurt Zouma, Asmir Begovic, and, of course, Nemanja Matic who has most recently departed for Manchester United.

The Blues have signed Tiemoue Bakayoko in his place and clearly think they can do more without the £40m Matic the sale of whom Chelsea may soon regret. The Serb appeared to be hung out to dry by Conte, who wants to re-energise his squad.

Matic has made more tackles and interceptions than any United or Chelsea midfielder since his return in January 2014 and his inclusion has now given Paul Pogba the license to roam forward and join the United attack.

Conte has missed out on a number of targets this summer. He will need to move quickly to finalise deals for these TWO stars…

RENATO SANCHES

The Blues are reportedly interested in trying to get the Bayern Munich midfielder to swap the Allianz for Stamford Bridge.

Sanches, who rarely featured for Bayern last season could just want out from the club and the Blues may feel that they can get the best out of him for 2017/18.

RYAN BERTRAND

Bertrand is on a long list of players to leave the Bridge, make a real name for themselves and then for Chelsea to potentially come calling like an embarrassing ex-girlfriend.

The Southampton star was fantastic on the south-coast last season and now capable of being a regular in the Chelsea defence with his ability to get forward a potentially big asset to Conte’s 3-4-3 system.