Fabrizio Romano issues verdict on Chelsea rumour as 'open to offers' claim made

Chelsea now have a few days to prepare for their all-London clash with Crystal Palace after taking on Ipswich Town on Monday night. The Blues won’t be thrilled with their festive efforts overall, but they do have a chance to pick up a big three points in the final round of fixtures before the FA Cup week.

Enzo Maresca will preparing for the January transfer window during this busy period, too, with the window set to open in a matter of hours. Here we round up all the latest news and transfer rumours surrounding Stamford Bridge.

Felix latest

Chelsea have been tipped to quit on Joao Felix just months after signing him for £42million, with the Portugal international having only started two Premier League games all season. But transfer ‘insider’ Fabrizio Romano says there is no indication that Chelsea will offload, or even consider offloading, Felix this early into his Stamford Bridge stay.

“Joao has just arrived on a permanent deal four months ago, I don’t see Chelsea changing their stance on Joao in January. At the moment, the situation is completely calm,” Romano wrote on GiveMeSport.

Dewsbury-Hall stance

While Chelsea are not willing to lose Felix, it seems that is not the case for summer signing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who has been forced to settle for Conference League outings for the most part over the course of the season so far.

The £30million has not looked good enough in Premier League games, at least considering where Chelsea currently are, and the Mail say Chelsea will be open to loan offers for Dewsbury-Hall in January in a bid to get him more regular game time. Though, it will, of course, be up to the player whether he wants to make the move, perhaps tempted by the possibility of winning competitions like the Conference League, even if he is a squad player.

Ferdinand on Maresca

Rio Ferdinand believes Chelsea boss Maresca is the manager of the season so far. Disagreeing with Owen Hargreaves on his YouTube channel, he said: “No, no, no, I think he’s (Arne Slot) great. But I’m saying the level of change within the clubs is very different. [Maresca] has closed that margin more. [Slot] has had a wonderfully settled ship. The ownership in Chelsea is so fragmented, it’s in the papers every other day.

“[Slot] has had a new sporting director but it’s not unstable. It’s still a stable environment. There’s no noise. When Klopp was there, there was no noise. I’m fighting Maresca’s corner. He’s had more fires to put out than probably half of the league. And he’s stomped them out.”