Chelsea transfer news round-up as Blues suffer Ousmane Dembele setback

Chelsea have had a fairly quiet January transfer window due to their summer spending spree last year, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a few deals in the pipeline.

The Blues are expected to use the current window to focus on deals for the summer and offload a few fringe players.

Fikayo Tomori has already departed for AC Milan on loan in a deal that can be made permanent by the Serie A leaders.

And Emerson Palmieri, Marcos Alonso and Billy Gilmour have all been linked with moves away due to the club’s congested squad.

Here are today’s Chelsea transfer rumours.

Tomori opens up on exit

Tomori was left on the bench for Milan’s 3-0 defeat against Atalanta on Saturday, but is expected to feature against Inter in the cup this week.

The centre-back has now opened up on how the deal came about, and admitted talks with Paolo Maldini were imperative in him making the switch.

“It’s a club with great history, this is an opportunity I couldn’t turn down,” he told Milan’s official website.

“I was surprised, when I spoke to Paolo Maldini, the best defender who has ever played football, I knew this was where I wanted to be and where I wanted to play football. I am very happy to be here now.”

Lampard discusses Gilmour

Lampard declared afterwards that he believes it’s unlikely that youngster Billy Gilmour will leave on loan.

Gilmour had a fine game against Luton, and will be hoping he did enough to warrant more game time going forward.

There had been speculation that the young Scotsman could depart on loan before the window closes, with his chances at regular first-team football limited at the moment.

But Lampard said after the game: “At the moment, he won't go on loan but we will keep it open until the end of the month.”

Ousmane Dembele competition

Chelsea are believed to be ready to battle Manchester United for Ousmane Dembele’s signature, but now they could face further issues.

According to reports, Juventus and Bayern Munich are also closely monitoring the Frenchman.

Dembele will be out of contract in the summer of 2022, and Barca could be forced into selling him if he doesn’t put pen to paper soon.

Having signed for £117million, Barcelona don’t want to run the risk of him signing a pre-contract agreement in a year’s time and leaving for free.

Source: Read Full Article