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Dembele in talks with Chelsea as Barcelona departure looks extremely likely amid insane salary demands

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Chelsea target Ousmane Dembele is looking closer to a departure from the Catalan club with only a half year staying on his 5 year deal with Barcelona.

The Blues have been vigorously connected with a move for the player as Thomas Tuchel has great admiration for the gifted 24-year-old former Dortmund winger.

And, it’s not a lie to say there’s been quite a few sudden advancements regarding his unresolved future between the French winger and Barcelona recently.

Dembélé, injured, will not play against Getafe

Dembele has had a horrific injury record since joining Barcelona

There are plenty of reasons why a transfer for Ousmane Dembele to Chelsea makes sense, with one of the biggest ones being that the Barcelona forward has played under Tuchel at Borussia Dortmund.

During the 2016/17 season, the duo of the German manager and Dembele saw the winger show his brilliance which saw him being compared with another French prodigy, Kylian Mbappe.

Barcelona vs PSG | Champions League: Dembele and Mbappe: The 'enfants  terribles' of the Champions League | Marca

The two forwards were compared to each during their breakout season in 2016/17

However, due to several long-term injuries during his time at Barcelona, he has only been able to show glimpses of his immense talent, unfortunately.

Fast forward to date, talks between his current club and his entourage have seen all sorts of rumors come out. He comes out of his contract with Barcelona this summer.

The winger was close to signing a new deal but after seeing Barcelona sign Ferran Torres from Man City (who plays the same position as Dembele), Ousmane and his entourage changed their tone and increased their salary demands.

The demands, which the Catalan club considers ‘insane’ are certainly huge, which they cannot pay the forward at the moment.

According to reports, if the winger does not agree to the club’s offer it seems likely that Barcelona and manager Xavi Hernandez will send the winger to the stands and make sure he does not appear in a match till his contract expires.

The winger reportedly asks for a total of around £63 million in the first year of him signing a new deal, with £25 million as his annual salary alongside a signing bonus of £25 million too, and another £13 million in commissions for his agent Moussa Sisoko.

The reason for these huge demands according to Catalan Journalist Gerard Romero is, “Dembele considers himself to be a world class player and believes he should be paid as such. He’s informed the club, through his agents, that will neither leave this month nor renew under the terms Barça is proposing.”

So, due to these reasons, it looks likely that the former Borussia Dortmund winger’s future is more and more away from Barcelona and possibly in England.

Dembele was previously heavily linked to Manchester United and it looked like he would end up there but a deal never completely materialized back then. His entourage is still in links with United, however.

But this does not mean Chelsea aren’t in contention. It was reported that Tuchel ‘insisted’ for his signing as he’s on good terms with the player and wants him to play under him again.

Some reports also suggest that the Blues also have a financial capacity to pay Dembele what he is asking for, after reports said that the West London club was following his situation.

However, a deal is not close to being confirmed anytime soon and it’s not clear whether the Blues will go for him or not. Nevertheless, rumors will not disappear anytime soon.

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WATCH: Chelsea’s out-of-favour striker Romelu Lukaku scores twice in action-packed second half 🔥

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Romelu Lukaku scores twice v Wolves: Chelsea welcomed Wolverhampton Wanderers to Stamford Bridge tonight in a contest where they were hopeful of reversing their poor run of form to guarantee themselves a Champions League berth.

Despite the Blues receiving two goal scoring opportunities in the first-half of the game, it still ended in a stalemate. However, as the second-half commenced, Romelu Lukaku stepped up to strike twice in quick succession to put Chelsea on a trajectory toward what appeared to be a deserved victory at that time.

Romelu Lukaku scores twice

Lukaku’s goal tally for Chelsea this season has totalled up to 14 now, causing him to become the highest goal scorer for the Blues, just a goal ahead of Kai Havertz. His performance tonight underlines his renewed confidence as he looks to be approaching the sort of form that had deserted him for most of the season. 

Watch how Romelu Lukaku scores twice in quick succession to give Chelsea’s scoreline an uplift:

The first goal came in response to a VAR call for a foul committed by Saiss on Romelu Lukaku as both players were caught up in a tangle on the edge of the penalty area. 

Watch Lukaku’s left-footed penalty here:

The second goal was a Pulisic interception that found Lukaku who then completed the play with an emphatic low finish from the edge of the box with his weaker right foot.

Lukaku wasn’t able to register himself on the scoresheet for Chelsea ever since the start of year 2022 – a daunting prospect for such an expensive striker – however, that record has been laid to rest today as his goals v Wolves have certainly managed to make a statement of his intent.

It’s a shame that a subpar defensive performance from his side overshadowed his monumental return to form. Chelsea were stripped to bone with comeback goals from Wolves that added misery to Chelsea’s hopes of securing a victory. The game ended in an unanticipated 2-2 draw. 

After racking up underwhelming results from their recent run-ins, Chelsea are looking a lot less comfortable in the rough and tumble of Premier League’s top-four now. With the fourth-placed Arsenal and fifth-placed Tottenham breathing down Chelsea’s neck, their margin for error has now decreased to just two points, especially after having picked up only 5 points from a possible 15.

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Official: Todd Boehly’s consortium signs agreement with Chelsea FC to succeed Roman Abramovich

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Chelsea released an official statement in the early hours of Saturday morning confirming that the terms have been agreed with the LA Dodgers’ part-owner Todd Boehly’s consortium to complete the £4.25bn takeover of the club though the acquisition is yet to be approved by the Premier League authorities as well as the UK government.

Todd Boehly's consortium

The statement read:

‘Chelsea Football Club can confirm that terms have been agreed for a new ownership group, led by Todd Boehly, Clearlake Capital, Mark Walter and Hansjoerg Wyss, to acquire the Club’.

Last week, it was revealed that Todd Boehly & Co were Raine Group’s preferred choice to succeed Roman Abramovich following which the group were given one-week window of exclusive negotiations with the club to finalise the takeover. The deal had appeared in doubt due to late interest from Sir Jim Ratcliffe, however, those fears were dissipated as the Ratcliffe bid was later dismissed on account of his inability to complete the sale process by May 31st – the date when Chelsea’s current license expires.

Although the group is fronted by Todd Boehly, private equity firm Clearlake Capital is the one providing the majority of the financial firepower to it. The consortium also includes Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, Boehly’s fellow LA Dodgers’ owner Mark Walter and the British property developer Jonathan Goldstein.

As per Chelsea’s official statement, the £4.25bn headline sum includes the £2.5bn cost required to secure shares in Chelsea – which will go into a frozen UK bank account for the purpose of releasing 100 per cent of the proceeds to charitable causes – the remaining £1.75bn is the amount the group have committed to invest in the club’s future, covering costs regarding redevelopment projects and ensuring there are sufficient funds in place for operational use.

‘The proposed new owners will commit £1.75bn in further investment for the benefit of the Club. This includes investments in Stamford Bridge, the Academy, the Women’s Team and Kingsmeadow and continued funding for the Chelsea Foundation’.

Few final, obligatory steps remain in the official transfer of ownership of Chelsea Football Club to Todd Boehly’s consortium, one of which requires all group members to complete the Premier League Owners’ and Directors’ Test. Furthermore, Chelsea will have to apply for the amended license from the UK government that would upgrade the club’s operational capacity in addition to allowing the transaction to go ahead. The preparations are underway as the Raine Group wants the sale process to reach its completion as soon as possible.

 

 

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Chelsea team news v Wolverhampton Wanderers: Four players on the injury list, including a midfield duo. 

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Chelsea team news v Wolverhampton Wanderers: Chelsea welcome Wolverhampton Wanderers to Stamford Bridge on Saturday where they will be looking to reverse their poor run of form to guarantee themselves a Champions League berth. There are four player absentees that have been confirmed so far by head coach, Thomas Tuchel, in today’s pre-match conference.

After racking up underwhelming results from their recent run-ins, Chelsea are looking a lot less comfortable in the rough and tumble of Premier League’s top-four now. With the fourth-placed Arsenal and fifth-placed Tottenham breathing down Chelsea’s neck, their margin for error has now decreased to just three points, especially after having picked up only 4 points from a possible 12.

Chelsea team news v Wolverhampton Wanderers: The central midfield duo N’Golo Kante and Jorginho are ruled out of action for tomorrow’s clash as reported by Thomas Tuchel at a press briefing today.

Additionally, the long-term absentees Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ben Chilwell also remain restricted to the sidelines, despite returning to light training.

N’Golo Kante had sustained a knock in the game against Manchester United, consequently missing last weekend’s trip to Everton where his fellow midfielder Jorginho was taken off the pitch at interval.

‘For N’Golo it comes too early. Jorginho is out as well, these two are missing. Callum and Ben Chilwell are still out,’ said the Blues boss.

The duo’s unavailability will give way to introducing Kovačić and most likely RLC in their stead as the latter is currently enjoying an upturn in form.

Chelsea team news v Wolverhampton Wanderers

Mateo Kovačić returned to action as a half-time substitute last weekend after missing a couple games on account of nursing an ankle injury. He stands the highest chance of featuring a start in tomorrow’s game v Wolves.

There is a growing feeling that Tuchel might give Romelu Lukaku a start tomorrow, considering his substitute Kai Havertz is also struggling to find the form that has recently deserted him.

Thomas Tuchel has expressed optimism regarding Lukaku’s reaction in training this week. The Blues boss said;

‘I want him to be an important part of the squad, right now he is very important. There is no recruitment and no players are about to leave because it’s simply not possible,’

‘We need to adapt all the time, to contractual situations and also individual situations, to what we and the players want.

Chelsea team news v Wolverhampton Wanderers

‘We signed a big player, he is a big player. He didn’t come on [at Everton] as we had only three changes, and unfortunately we used one at half-time with Jorginho. Otherwise there was a huge chance we had the same changes as against West Ham, with Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech,’

‘He trained very well, maybe he starts tomorrow, we’ll see.’ 

 

 

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