Chelsea linked with two Juventus players ahead of Champions League clash

Chelsea take on Juventus this week — who will be without Paulo Dybala and Álvaro Morata — and ahead of that Wednesday night clash in the Champions League groups, we’ve been linked with a couple of their players, as it often happens. The rumor mill tends to be lazy like that.

One of them is star winger Federico Chiesa, who had a great summer in leading Italy to the European Championship and found himself linked with nine-figure moves to European football’s moneyed elite. A report from CalcioMercato reiterates claims that Chelsea were one of those teams — which made no sense at the time (we wanted a striker, not a winger) — and that we will try “a new assault in the coming months” — which still makes no sense. Juventus of course aren’t looking to sell, and have made him the center of their project — which makes perfect sense.

The other player in question is young center back Matthijs de Ligt, who’s still just 22. He has three years left on his contract, but he’s represented by Mino Raiola, who’s already sowing seeds of yet another transfer saga, recently claiming that the former Ajax prospect could leave in the summer. Juventus again wouldn’t want to sell — despite Allegri’s recent comments — but De Ligt reportedly has a €150m release clause (twice what Juventus paid in 2019), which is hilariously huge. Chelsea’s center back situation, especially given Rüdiger’s uncertain future, does leave plenty of room for speculation.