Chelsea news and transfers LIVE – Olise stance, Alvarez price, Maatsen talks

So what to make of the Maatsen talks?

football.london says: Chelsea need to be getting the full £35million here or they won’t be recouping even close to his true value. Look at it this way, Maatsen was deemed to be worth £30million just over 12 months ago as a Championship winner, surely the second half of 2023/24 and now being a Champions League finalist bump that up to at least £35million?

Really, Maatsen is the sort of player Chelsea need to be keeping. He looks suited to be an inverted full-back under Maresca and at 22 has so much to offer and plenty of development left. The world is at his feet and the fact that both Lewis Hall and Maatsen could leave for a combined fee of less than what Chelsea paid for Marc Cucurella is a lot of what has gone wrong for Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital.

Even £35million for Dortmund would be a bargain. Maatsen is going to be worth much more than that in a year’s time. His time at Chelsea looks set to end extremely early, and the club will be the one’s to miss out on the benefits of having him.

Read the full story, here.

London World say:

“He is expected to hold talks with the manager but he has one year left on his deal and doesn’t want to spend it just being on the bench in London.

“The entire case with Madrid is not closed but it all depends on what Chelsea want to do and of course how the talks with the new manager go because normally in football when there is a new boss everyone gets a fresh start.”

Reports say that Napoli have made a first bid for Romelu Lukaku this summer.

However, their offer is said to be around half of the £38million Chelsea are demanding to let the striker go.

With Antonio Conte now in place in Naples a reunion is one more possible.

Chelsea are not interested in letting Lukaku leave on loan again.

We wrote about this yesterday in the blog but it is still being reported.

Chelsea are said to be interested in bringing former youth goalkeeper Marcin Bulka back to Stamford Bridge.

Reports from France say that a deal is being explored as Enzo Maresca looks to bring in a new ‘keeper.

Manchester City and Chelsea have been linked with a move for Real Madrid attacker Rodrygo after suggestions that he could leave the club following Kylian Mbappe’s arrival.

It is said that Chelsea have already spoken to his agents over a possible move, though things are at a very early stage.

City, as well as Liverpool and Arsenal, have allbeen linked with the Brazilian.

This is a bit wild.

Coming out of Germany last night it was reported that some clubs have enquired as the availability of Nkubku this summer.

He only played a minor role for the Blues in his debut season due to injury.

However, Chelsea are unsurprisingly not planning to entertain him leaving and Nkunku himself wants to prove himself and stay in London.

Could the Chelsea great be back in management soon?

He told talkSPORT:

“Some opportunities have come my way, they didn’t feel right for the time. So I’ve kind of taken that decision a bit at times.

“But now I feel ready so we will see what opportunities come up. I’m certainly ready to work. I love doing what I do, so we will see.”

He added: “I’d like to find the right opportunity. I mean, I’ve enjoyed the break in a sense because football management takes over your life.

“That is the beauty of it and also sometimes you realise when you’re out if it, it is about spending time with your family.

“I have got a young family, too, that is important. So that has been nice.”

A strange one coming out of Spain but Chelsea are said to be going ‘all out’ to sign Girona forward Artem Dovbyk.

The player was linked with a move in January as Mauricio Pochettino tried to bolster his options moving forward.

Dovbyk helped Girona secure Champions League football last year and is once more said to be on Chelsea’s radar, though he could cost as much as £35million.

Sky Sports reported Dharmesh Sheth told Give Me Sport:

“One potential signing that they could get big money for is Ian Maatsen. We do know that he went on loan to Borussia Dortmund and had a really successful spell, getting to the Champions League final.

“Before he went there, he signed an extension on his contract at Chelsea that takes him to 2026 and it’s our understanding the contract includes a release clause of around £35m. We know Dortmund want to keep him and we know Maatsen wants to stay.

“He’s happy at Dortmund, but the club don’t want to pay £35m. It’s simply too high of a figure for them, so they are currently in talks with Chelsea over potentially negotiating that release clause and maybe bringing it down to potentially around £30m.

“It definitely is one to watch and it’s definitely one Chelsea could make a bit of money from.”

Manchester City will not entertain offers of below £80million for Julian Alvarez this summer, reports say.

Pep Guardiola is extremely happy with the attacker and there is no desire to lose him.

City would like to keep him with Bayern Munich also listed as being interested alongside Chelsea, PSG, and Atletico Madrid.

Alvarez has not asked to leave, he just wants a bigger role at the club, though this has spiked Chelsea’s interest.

Chelsea are long-term admirers of Michael Olise but are yet to open talks with Crystal Palace over a move this summer, football.london understands.

Bobby Vincent writes:

The 22-year-old is the subject of plenty of interest from Premier League clubs this summer with Manchester United also considering a move for the winger. Olise, who was at Chelsea for seven years as a youngster, enjoyed a sensational 2023/24 season with Palace but is expected to leave Selhurst Park this summer.

The Blues retain an interest in the London-born winger and could make a move for him this summer. However, no talks have been held as of yet over the signing.

Right, kicking things off with a surprise from overnight – no, it’s not Afghanistan hammering New Zealand in the cricket.

Reports from Italy say that Chelsea are amongst the teams looking at Federico Chiesa this summer.

The Juventus player is said to be available for just £34million (or a little bit more) after a poor, injury-plagued year.

Arsenal and Newcastle are also mentioned as possible suitors.

Well it was another busy day of Chelsea news yesterday, but here’s what we have coming up:

• City’s Alvarez stance
• Chelsea thoughts on Olise
• Maatsen to Dortmund update
• Dovbyk interest
• Chiesa to SW6?
• Much more

We’ll have all this and the rest to come.