Barcelona’s interest in Chelsea wing-back Marcos Alonso has cooled despite the Blues offering him in a deal for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, it has been reported.
The Blues had made an offer of £15 million plus Alonso, with it unclear as to whether the deal would be accepted by Barcelona.
Thomas Tuchel has been keen to bring in reinforcements, including in attack after letting Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku depart.
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Christian Pulisic and Callum Hudson-Odoi could still leave on loan this summer, while Hakim Ziyech is seeking a permanent departure from Stamford Bridge due to lack of game time. Speaking on his desire to bring in a forward before the end of the transfer deadline, Tuchel said: “I believe we can compete with this group. To be very honest it is one thing to compete once a week and another 60 times in a year and three times a week.
"For this you need a strong group. It’s simply like this.
“You need players who challenge for their place, their minutes and push each other to their highest level. It does not come down to only tactics, team spirit but also the challenge and quality of players within the team and depth within the squad.
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"That has not changed.
“We are very happy about the performance still but we are still active in the market and know what can be possible. If not, we will make the very best out of it.
“If we are looking, we are looking for high quality and personality that suits our group and club.
"Nothing has changed.”
Alonso has looked set to depart this summer, with Barcelona previously were thought to have been in the ‘final stages’ over his move.
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With Marc Cucurella and Ben Chilwell being the first two choices for left-back, Alonso is surplus to requirements.
However, it now appears that a deal for Barcelona could be off as they have ‘cooled their interest’.
As reported by David Ornstein of The Athletic, Barcelona’s interest has cooled due to having issues on registering their existing players.
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This means that they are wary of bringing Alonso to the club, preferring a straight cash deal rather than seeing him arrive as part of the Aubameyang package.
The La Liga side need the money to register new signing and former Chelsea target Jules Kounde, with the move for Aubameyang now coming down to whether the clubs can agree a straight fee.
It remains to be seen as to whether the Blues will be able to offload Alonso this summer, or whether he will remain an option for Tuchel’s side.
Topics: Chelsea, Barcelona, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Chelsea Transfer News & Rumours, Marcos Alonso, Transfers, Football
Nick Emms