Chelsea are willing to listen to offers for attacking trio Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech this summer, according to reports.
Thomas Tuchel's transfer plans are well underway ahead of Friday's opening of the summer window after he held further meetings with new owner Todd Boehly over targets and their strategy ahead of the 2022/23 season getting underway in August.
Boehly made a promise to the Chelsea head coach to try to deliver his wishes, handing Tuchel control over who he wants to sign, but also who he wants to sell in order to shape and rebuild a squad to his satisfaction.
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Despite the defence being a priority as a result of Antonio Rudiger's departure and the expected exit of Andreas Christensen, Chelsea may need to address their attack this summer.
Romelu Lukaku is looking to return to Inter Milan which Chelsea are open to facilitating should it make financial sense for the Blues. Talks remain ongoing and replacements have been shortlisted including the likes of Raheem Sterling, Christopher Nkunku and Ousmane Dembele.
But Lukaku may not be the only departure int he coming weeks and months. According to the Guardian, the Blues are open to bid for Pulisic, Werner and Ziyech.
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Who would be interest in signing any of the three Chelsea stars remains unclear, with Borussia Dortmund recently cooling their interest in Werner.
Tuchel acknowledged last month that he may be forced to make changes to the attack this summer, admitting: “If we stick to the group then we will try to solve it with these players. Is it necessary to bring more offensive players around the box to create more distractions, to create more space for each other? We will ask that question. Can we do better in the structure? Can we push the players more? Did we rotate too much? Let’s see.
“There are a lot of options. The numbers we produce from our offensive players don’t allow us to over-perform and we need over-performance if we want to be nearer to the top two teams. I am not pointing fingers, I am not blaming anybody, but we need over-performance from everybody. It’s not over-performance if we have only single figures in scoring and assisting.”
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Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus is also being considered by Chelsea, valued at £43m, while Robert Lewandowski is very unlikely despite being a target with a switch to Barcelona firmly at the top of his priority list.
Pulisic spoke earlier this month on his future while away on international duty with the USMNT and expressed his playing time concerns, however refused to have his focus drawn away from playing for his country.
"As far as right now, I’m obviously just focused on what I’m doing here. And I’m super excited to be here," he said. "And yeah, that’s it.
"Of course, I want to get more playing time. I want to be on the field as much as I can and be the sharpest I can be and fit as well.
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"I think I still got a lot of games, but it’s always something that I’m working at and trying to be regular at club level as well to put myself in the best position to be fit when I come here with the national team."
Topics: Chelsea, Chelsea Transfer News & Rumours, Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, Football
Matthew Debono