Chelsea express interest in £74.9m Real Madrid 'target' as summer sale plan emerges

Chelsea return to action on Friday night when they face Brighton for the second time in the space of a week. The Blues lost in the FA Cup last weekend, but they did win their last Premier League outing, and a win here will keep them in the top four.

That feels more important than most weeks, given they face a direct rival in Aston Villa after this date with the Seagulls. In the meantime, we have rounded up all the latest news and transfer rumours surrounding Stamford Bridge.

Lukeba links

Chelsea are being linked with a move for RB Leizpig defender Castello Lukeba, who attracting plenty of admirers. According to Bild, the 22-year-old’s admirers include the Blues and Real Madrid, with the latter hoping to strengthen their back line significantly this summer.

Chelsea have some business of their own to do at the back, and they have been linked with a move to re-sign Marc Guehi, but Lukeba could be an alternative, albeit not a cheaper one. The report claims the defender has an asking price of £74.9million.

Nkunku latest

Chelsea are still said to be open to the possibility of selling Christopher Nkunku this summer after failing to offload him in the January window. GiveMeSport say the Blues will revisit the idea of selling Nkunku this summer, with the forward having failed to convince Enzo Maresca.

Bayern Munich expressed interest in him during the winter window but ultimately decided not to press on with a deal. It’s reported Bayern could return to the table with a fresh bid.

Goalkeeper decision

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has confirmed that Filip Jorgensen has replaced Robert Sanchez as the first choice goalkeeper for the moment. He said in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Brighton clash: “Our goalkeeper at the moment is Filip Jorgensen.

“I said that the Filip solution was also to give Robert Sánchez time to recover mentally and physically but the idea is not to game by game change the keeper.”

On team news in general, Maresca added: “Nico is injured and will be out until the international break,’ Enzo confirmed at his pre-match press conference. ‘Probably he will be back after the international break. We knew he had a muscular problem but not how important [significant] it was at that stage. His reaction was good, so we didn’t think it was going to be a big injury.

‘”Unfortunately, he had a scan which has shown the injury, and he will be out for six to eight weeks. Marc Guiu will also be out for a while. He has a muscle problem, a hamstring issue as well, and will be out for a little while.”

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