- Antonio Conte has made no secret of his desire to add to his Chelsea squad
- Chelsea lack cover for Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses in wing back roles
- Serge Aurier is strong, athletic and is thought to be available for around £27m
- Manchester United have been on Aurier’s trail and are favourites to sign him
Chelsea are ready to lock horns with Manchester United in the transfer market again in a bid to sign Serge Aurier from Paris Saint-Germain.
Antonio Conte has made no secret of his desire to strengthen his squad before the market closes and the Premier League champions are confident of landing four more signings.
Wing-backs are a priority because they have no natural cover for Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses, who will miss the opening game of the Premier League campaign against Burnley on Saturday.
Antonio Conte has made no secret of his desire to add to his squad before the market closes
United have been on Aurier’s trail for a while and are favourites to sign the Ivory Coast player
Conte’s efforts to sign Kyle Walker, Danilo and Benjamin Mendy were foiled as all three joined Manchester City, and he is losing hope of prising left-back Alex Sandro from Juventus.
Aurier is a strong and athletic right-back who likes to attack and is thought to be available for around £27million, as PSG seek to offset some of the world record £198m spent on Neymar.
The French club have already signed right-back Dani Alves on a free from Juventus this summer.
United have been on Aurier’s trail for some time and are favourites to sign the Ivory Coast international if he wins an appeal against a two-month prison sentence for assaulting a police officer last year.
Wing-backs are Chelsea’s priority because they lack cover for Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses
His case was in court on Monday as Jose Mourinho cleared teenage full-back Timothy Fosu-Mensah to join Crystal Palace on loan for the coming season.
Late emerging competition from Chelsea for 24-year-old Aurier could trigger another transfer tussle between the clubs. Mourinho hijacked his former club’s deal for Romelu Lukaku and paid £40m to sign Nemanja Matic when Tiemoue Bakayoko opted for Stamford Bridge ahead of Old Trafford.
Chelsea have found it hard going in the transfer market as Conte prepares his squad for the twin challenges of defending the title and returning to the Champions League.
Conte’s efforts to sign Kyle Walker and Danilo were foiled as they joined Manchester City
Bakayoko, Alvaro Morata, Antonio Rudiger and back-up goalkeeper Willy Caballero have arrived at the Bridge, but many have left and the manager wants wing-back cover, a central midfielder and another option in attack.
Another central defender is not the priority but Chelsea will make a move for Virgil van Dijk if Southampton decide to listen to offers after his transfer request.
‘The back of the programme was interesting,’ said captain Gary Cahill, when asked if the squad felt as if it lacked depth after losing to Arsenal on penalties in the FA Community Shield on Sunday.
Aurier is strong and athletic and is thought to be available for around £27million from PSG
Chelsea’s squad of 24 players on the back on the match-day programme included three ‘keepers, forgotten striker Loic Remy, Kenedy, who has not appeared since being sent home from tour for offending China, and Diego Costa who has been told he can leave and is in exile in Brazil.
Cahill added: ‘We’ve certainly got quality and you just have to hope we don’t have too many injuries. Obviously, the new players have just come and they’re going to be vitally important for us.
‘We just have to keep everybody fit and keep everybody sharp. Rest is going to be important because we’ve going to have a lot of games. As players, we are in control of how we prepare ourselves and the other stuff outside is none of our business.’