Bundesliga 'interest' could help fund Chelsea's hijack of pricey Liverpool 'target'

Chelsea now turn their attention to a Premier League clash with Bournemouth on Tuesday night after making easy work of Morecambe in the FA Cup on Saturday. Bournemouth have been tricky customers throughout this season, and the Blues will have to produce a big performance as they look to get back to winning ways in the league.

In the meantime, Enzo Maresca and his staff will be keeping an eye out for new signings, with some players also likely to leave. Here we round up all the latest news and transfer rumours surrounding Stamford Bridge.

Kvaratskhelia interest

Chelsea are said to be interested in rivalling Liverpool for a deal to sign Napoli winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia this month. Napoli boss Antonio Conte has confirmed that the winger has asked to leave the club, and a solution is being sought amid a flood of interest.

RMC Sport say Chelsea are willing to rival Liverpool and PSG for a deal, with the latter unlikely to pull off a deal due to financial rules and recent spending, according to the report. The tricky part is that Kvaratskhelia is said to be commanding a fee of £67million, which would be a pricey deal for the Blues, especially when they will be prioritising a centre-back and a striker.

Dortmund eyeing move

Borussia Dortmund are said to be expected to make an approach to sign Chelsea midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka. The midfielder has been starved of game time this season, and his exit is inevitable, with Maresca having already confirmed as much.

A number of clubs have been linked, and West London Sport say Dortmund are the most likely to make an approach in the coming days, holding serious interest. Napoli have also been linked, but they have now signed Philip Billing from Bournemouth, so they are unlikely to double up on midfield signings at this point.

James on return

Reece James is delighted to back after starting in Chelsea’s comfortable win over Morecambe. He told the club website: “It was a big win for us,’ the skipper stated when reflecting on the victory. We’ve had a few tough results in recent weeks so to record a big win at home in front of our fans is very pleasing and hopefully we can build on this now.

“The FA Cup is a special competition. There’s a lot of tough teams in the hat but also there are teams at the lower end of the pyramid that can cause you problems. The manager made that clear to us before the game, we had to prepare right and attack the game with the right mentality and we certainly did that. Of course we have [aspirations of winning the FA Cup]. No matter what competition we enter, we want to be there right until the very end and that’s the same here.”