While Chelsea kept their powder dry during the January transfer window and failed to add to a squad that saw 11 players added in the summer, Todd Boehly and company are likely to be preparing for another busy window when the current season ends.
Enzo Maresca’s side moved back into the top four at the weekend when they saw off Leicester City 1-0 at Stamford Bridge, as the Italian looks to lead Chelsea back into the Champions League following a two-year absence.
The race for the top four is set to be a closely run thing going into the final 10 games of the season, but if the club do manage to pip their rivals and seal top-tier European football next term, it will boost them in the transfer market this summer.
Chelsea plot Jobe Bellingham swoop
The Blues’ recent transfer policy has tended to see them move for promising young players and the latest talented youngster to be linked is Sunderland midfielder Jobe Bellingham.
The 19-year-old has emerged as one of the Championship’s best prospects this season, turning out 32 times for the promotion-chasing Black Cats this term as he steps out of the shadow of his older brother, Real Madrid and England star Jude.
Like Jude, the younger Bellingham brother was a product of the Birmingham City academy, joining Sunderland for £1.5million in 2023, with the midfielder then going on to rank as the 50th most exciting teenager in world football by FourFourTwo last year.
And as per The Sun, Bellingham’s impressive form this term has seen Chelsea ‘enter the race’ for the teenager and prepare a ‘big-money bid’, with the Metro adding that the likes of Tottenham, Crystal Palace, Bayer Leverkusen, plus Jude’s former side Borussia Dortmund also monitoring the midfielder.
Bellingham signed a new deal at the Stadium of Light last year which saw him commit his future until 2028, but players of his calibre rarely remain in the Championship for long, with Archie Gray the latest example of a talented teenager making that step up.
Sunderland are currently fourth in the Championship, but sit eight points off the automatic promotion spots, with the play-offs their most likely route to promotion. Should they fall short, it will embolden Bellingham’s admirers.
In FourFourTwo’s view, Bellingham – who is valued at €18million by Transfermarkt – is a tantalising prospect, so it is perhaps inevitable that he will be playing top flight football in the not-too-distant future.
For Chelsea, his signing would go down as a much-needed home-grown player, so it makes sense to see why they would target him. But would Stamford Bridge be the best place for his development?
The 19-year-old has shown that he is ready for regular first-team football this year, but would face plenty of competition for a place at Chelsea, given the size of the squad they carry, so the Blues would have to offer a compelling pathway at the club, given the other teams that are interested in him.