Chelsea Grant Diego Costa & Nemanja Matic Permission to Miss Pre-Season Tour Amid Exit Negotiations

?Chelsea have granted both Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic permission to miss the club’s pre-season tour of China and Singapore – amid the duo’s negotiations for an exit from Stamford Bridge. 

Sky Sports announced on their Twitter account that the Premier League title winners will be omitted from Antonio Conte’s travelling squad on Monday as their exit from the Blues nears. 

Both Costa and Matic have long been touted with a move this summer after being considered surplus to requirements by Conte, with Atletico Madrid and Juventus the front-runners for the duo respectively. 

28-year-old Matic is said to have received interest from both Juventus and Internazionale, according to ?the Guardian, after his reported move to Manchester United was scuppered following Romelu Lukaku’s dismissal of Chelsea in favour of a move to Old Trafford. 

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After the Serbian international’s contract negotiations with Chelsea stalled in the past few months, he expressed his desire to leave the club where he has since been training on his own at the club’s Cobham base. 

Chelsea are understood to be demanding a fee in the region of £40m for Matic, and with regular talks with Juventus already in progress over defender Alex Sandro the 28-year-old is also set to be up for discussion. 

Matic is now set for a talk with Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia in the hope that a deal can be agreed for his transfer, now that the Blues have acquired Monaco’s Tiemoue Bakayoko – subject to a medical.

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Costa on the other-hand has remained in his native Brazil as he awaits further negotiations over his future, with a possible return to Atletico Madrid on the cards. 

Despite the Spanish side’s transfer ban – which would prevent Costa from featuring for the club until January – the striker maintains the hope that a compromise can be reached for his transfer fee. 

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Tiemoue Bakayoko Continues Social Media Teases as He Arrives at Chelsea Training Ground for Medical

?Tiemoue Bakayoko is set to formally be a Chelsea player within a matter of hours after the 22-year-old rising star posted an Instagram story from the club’s Cohbam training ground in Surrey as he undergoes his medical and finalises the £39.7m transfer from Monaco.

Taking to the picture and video sharing platform, Bakayoko captured a scene through a window at the facilities, adding arrows pointing to the training pitch and a caption that read, “soon soon soon soon”.

Expected since the end of the June, the deal is thought to have been held up by concerns over a knee injury the player suffered towards the end of last season.

There were later claims that Manchester United were looking to hijack the deal, while even on Friday morning Bakayoko was intent on teasing after a pair of tweets appeared to be posted from ‘Manchester’, one of which featured red and white emojis – it was later deleted.

Yet he has seen dining with a handful of his new Chelsea team-mates the night before, including David Luiz and Willian, and has been ‘liking’ a whole host of tweets from Monaco fans wishing him the best in the future, and Chelsea fans welcoming him to the club.

Bakayoko has also exchanged tweets with Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi this week.

A further update on Twitter featured a video of Bakayoko driving a car and talking about Ronaldinho, but featured the caption ‘stayed tuned’ and ‘soon’, with the two Os in soon replaced with blue emojis.

Another tweet on Friday afternoon featured a picture of Ronaldinho, Frank Lampard and John Terry from the end of a Champions League clash between Chelsea and Barcelona in 2006 and ‘#Legendary’ as a caption.

Once the deal is complete, Bakayoko will become the most expensive midfielder in Chelsea history and the second most expensive overall behind only £50m striker Fernando Torres.


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Watford Sign Nathaniel Chalobah From Chelsea on 5-Year Contract for Reported £5m Fee

?Watford have ?completed the signing of Nathaniel Chalobah on a permanent deal from Chelsea for an undisclosed fee, the club have confirmed.

Chalobah – who made 42 appearances while on loan with the Hornets during the 2012/13 season, scoring five goals – has now returned and signed a five-year deal with the Hornets, taking their number 14 jersey ahead of the new campaign.

The player spent last season with former club Chelsea, but featured only on the fringes of their first team squad, while in the past he has spent time with the likes of Nottingham Forest, Middlesbrough, Burnley, Reading and Napoli on loan. He played just 15 times for last season’s champions in 2016/17, making his first league start for them against Watford back in May.

22-year-old Chalobah had been offered a new £60,000-a-week deal by Chelsea in order to turn down Watford’s advances, but his desire to play regular first team football in the Premier League in the end convinced Chelsea to sell. It is believed he has made the move for somewhere around the £5m mark.

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Inter Milan Enter Talks With Chelsea Over £34.5m Deal for Manchester United Midfield Target

?Inter Milan are supposedly vying to snag Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic in a deal worth £34.5m according to a report published by Evening Standard, a move which could certainly end 

Manchester United’s advances for the midfielder once and for all.

United’s former Blues boss Jose Mourinho is said to be keen on reuniting with the Serbian international, although Chelsea are reluctant to sell to a domestic rival, putting the Nerazzurri in the driver’s seat for his signature.

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Chelsea are in-fact close to signing AS Monaco’s Tiemoue Bakayoko, meaning that Matic will indeed be free to leave Stamford Bridge in the summer.

A £40m figure has allegedly been met between the respective Ligue 1 and Premier League champions – Bakayoko will undergo a medical on Friday before completing his switch across the English Channel.

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Matic, 28, has been training on his own since the team regrouped on Monday, but left the club’s Cobham-based training facility early on Wednesday before the day’s second session, a sure fire sign that his services have subsequently become obsolete. 

With Antonio Conte refusing to sell to the Red Devils, United have looked for an alternative in Tottenham Hotspur’s Eric Dier.

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The 23-year-old has supported the club since he was a child and is understandably interested in the jump from north London to Old Trafford.

But, like the set-back with Matic, Spurs are unwilling to listen to offers for their England international, so if the ‘Special One’ is to land at least one of the two defensive midfielders, he’ll have to pull out all the stops to do so. 


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AC Milan Put Forth Cash-Plus-Player Offer to Torino for Their Star Striker and Chelsea Target

?AC Milan have put a new and improved offer in for Torino striker and Chelsea target Andrea Belotti, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also still on their radar.

The free-spending Italian giants have already recruited Mateo Musacchio, Franck Kessie, Ricardo Rodriguez, Fabio Borini, Andre Silva, Hakan Calhanoglu and Andrea Conti, and are also understood to have bid for Belotti in the midst of all their other deals.

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As reported by Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, the Rossoneri have made a new offer for the striker, who is coveted by Chelsea after they missed out on Romelu Lukaku, which apparently includes cash plus defender Gabriel Paletta.

Ideally, Milan want to sign Aubameyang, but he also is a target of Chelsea, meaning they may have to ‘settle’ for Belotti.

The Italian hitman’s stock has risen high though after his showing in Serie A last season, and he would be a real coup for whoever manages to sign him – he fired 26 goals and made seven assists in the league last term.

Should the Paletta plus cash deal fail, Chinese-backed Milan could offer Mbaye Niang and or Gianluca Lapadula plus cash to test their resolves, as Di Marzio has reason to believe Torino would entertain such an offer.

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