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Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly has flown out to Barcelona to figure out a deal involving two players from both clubs, according to reports.
The Daily Mail has claimed that the Blaugrana are interested in signing Spanish full-backs Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso from the Blues. Both players have 12 months left on their current deals at Stamford Bridge.
In return, Barcelona are willing to
offer pacy right-back Sergino Dest, as well as Dutch international forward Memphis Depay, to sweeten the deal.
The report also claims that Chelsea are interested in signing midfielder Frenkie de Jong. However, the 25-year-old midfielder would prefer to link up with former boss Erik ten Hag at Manchester United.
Barcelona are in deep financial trouble. They clearly feel that offering two first-team members to Chelsea may convince the Premier League outfit to sell two of their most experienced defenders. Alonso and club captain Azpilicueta have 688 Blues appearances between them.
Chelsea are yet to finalize a signing this summer under their new regime. Though they have seen two of their first-choice centre-backs in the form of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen leave on free transfers. The latter has already joined Barcelona and the Spanish side could add two more Blues defenders this summer.
Barcelona defender Dest appears to have fallen down the pecking order at right-back. He played 31 matches in all competitions last season, with Dani Alves preferred over him. However, the Brazilian has now left the club.
Meanwhile, Depay endured a mixed debut campaign following his move from Lyon last summer. He registered 13 goals and two assists in 37 matches last season.
Thomas Tuchel keen to keep Cesar Azpilicueta at Chelsea despite Barcelona speculation
Speculation has surrounded the 32-year-old club-captain. Azpilicueta will surely go down as an all-time Chelsea legend having won every trophy available to him, including guiding his team to Champions League glory in 2021.
Tuchel has previously admitted that he wants to keep the veteran defender at Stamford Bridge, as he stated (as per Sport Bible):
"I am happy that in football, it's possible a guy like this can win all the trophies. That sets the example. It sets the tone. It sets the atmosphere at a very high level. We (need to) find out if he can give everything that makes him special."
Tuchel stated that while he wants to keep the Spaniard, Azpilicueta will need to be 100% committed to stay. He said:
"I think, with all the respect, he can only be special if he is committed 100 percent and does not have another little voice in his head, not one concern in his head, that he should have done something differently. He is only the guy he is when he is fully committed."
He added:
"That is his foundation. So this is what we have to find out. That does not mean we find it out tomorrow or today, we still have time because we are also in the privileged position where we have a contract. We have to see."
