A member of the Chelsea squad could be on his way out as soon as January in the face of a mammoth offer from a European giant, it has been claimed in a fresh report
Chelsea flying high in the Premier League
A 3-0 win over Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge moved Chelsea up to third place in the Premier League, behind second placed Arsenal only by alphabetical order, and nine points behind leaders Liverpool.
Enzo Maresca has enjoyed a fine start to life in west London, with his side also impressing in the Conference League, though they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Newcastle.
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It would bring to an end an underwhelming stint at Stamford Bridge.
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It has not been plain sailing for everyone at the club though, with Ben Chilwell still sidelined by Maresca and the likes of Mykhailo Mudryk, Benoit Badiashile, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall among those only handed limited opportunities to impress in the Premier League.
Now, Chelsea have been handed an opportunity to reduce their bloated squad, and net a hefty fee in the process.
Bid made for Chelsea's top goalscorer
That comes as a fresh report has revealed that several bids have already been made for top goalscorer Christopher Nkunku, who has struggled to break into the Premier League first XI but has proved prolific in Europe.
Premier League
Other competitions
Appearances
12
8
Starts
1
8
Goals
1
10
Assists
0
1
Minutes per goal/assist
182
55
Speaking in a recent interview, Maresca was quizzed on Nkunku and admitted that he loved the Frenchman, but did little to suggest he would play a bigger role at the club any time soon.
“We know that Christo’s [Nkunku’s] best position is between the lines as a 10, but Cole [Palmer] is playing there, and we are not going to play many games with Cole and Christo, or with Cole and Joao [Felix].
‘”Christo is the same as I have mentioned many times about Joao. If you play with Cole, Joao, Christo, Noni [Madueke] and Jadon [Sancho], who is defending? Their skill and their strength is not defending, it is to attack. We love them but also we need balance.
“They are all fantastic players, they are all going to play games no doubt, but not every game. The last game we tried with Joao and Cole together, hopefully soon we can try with Christo and Cole together, Christo and Joao together, because we have so many games.”
With his future at Stamford Bridge looking bleak barring an injury to Palmer, it is little surprise that there has been speculation he could exit the club in the near future. Now, reports in Spain have gone one step further, explaining that several clubs have already made a bid to land the Frenchman. Top of that list is Paris Saint Germain, who have reportedly tabled a €60m (£51m) offer for the forward, which would see Chelsea almost break even on the fee they shelled out to sign Nkunku from RB Leipzig.
It is also added that “several Saudi Arabian clubs have offered 60 million euros to sign the attacker”, though those offers may well be less attractive than the option to return to Paris and his homeland.
Nkunku still has almost five years left to run on his £195,000 a week deal at Stamford Bridge, but it is hard to see him seeing out his contract unless his gametime improves given his clear ability and desire to play regular football. Could this be the perfect solution to a brewing problem?
