Chelsea and Enzo Maresca have joined the race to sign a star who has already netted against them in pre-season, it has been reported.
Confusing summer for Chelsea so far
It has been a tough summer for the Blues, who have continued to focus largely on signing youth players rather than ready-made first-team additions and have endured a tough pre-season campaign ahead of the new Premier League season.
So far, the only signings over the age of 20 to arrive at Stamford Bridge this summer have been Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (who joined from Leicester City in a deal worth £30m), Tosin Adarabaiyo on a free transfer and goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen, who signed from Villarreal.
Chelsea's signings (summer 2024)
Player
Age
Fee
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
25
£30m
Filip Jorgensen
22
£20.7m
Omari Kellyman
18
£17m
Renato Veiga
20
£12m
Caleb Wiley
19
£8.5m
Marc Guiu
18
£5m
Tosin Adarabaiyo
26
Free
Their pre-season has not been plain sailing either. They have won just one of their four outings (against Club America) while they were held to a 2-2 draw by League One side Wrexham. They have also been well beaten by Premier League champions Manchester City, who Erling Haaland netted a hat-trick to help them to a 4-2 win, while they were hammered 4-1 by Scottish Champions Celtic too.
It has been far from ideal preparation for the upcoming campaign, which kicks off for Maresca's side in a fortnight's time with a clash against Manchester City once more.
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More work will be needed in the transfer market before then, especially with the prospective sale of Conor Gallagher to Atletico Madrid. Fortunately, Chelsea had the chance to observe his potential replacement up close.
Chelsea eye up Celtic midfielder as Gallagher replacement
Now, Maresca's side have been credited with an interest in in-demand midfielder Matt O'Riley, who netted against them in the aforementioned 4-1 pre-season defeat for the Blues.
The 23-year-old midfielder is hot property this summer. Atalanta have seen three bids rejected for him, while Southampton are also thought to be keen on reuniting the Dane with manager Russell Martin, who worked with him at MK Dons.
Brendan Rodgers is keen to keep O'Riley, who he described as "phenomenal" after he fired Celtic to the Scottish Premiership title last season.
“He has been absolutely phenomenal really in his consistency. So to look at his numbers now, it’s huge testament to himself because the work he puts in, the focus he puts in every single day at training to improve and be better, that’s clearly been rewarded by his team-mates and everyone else. It’s very well deserved.
“He is very humble, there is nothing flash about him. His peers recognise the work he puts in and the mentality that he has."
But now Chelsea could ruin that idea, with one report naming him as the potential replacement for Gallagher. That information comes courtesy of Alan Nixon, relayed by Video Celts, who outlines that the £14,000-per-week ace is in the sights of Maresca and co at Stamford Bridge.
It remains to be seen whether the Blues act on that interest, with the report adding that a bid of £25m could bring Celtic to the negotiating table over their prized asset.