Chelsea are hoping to replace Eden Hazard in the summer transfer window, but their ongoing legal battle with FIFA threatens to derail that very intent.
The Blues are hoping to make a move for Barcelona midfielder Philippe Coutinho but they will need to sort out the ban placed on them by the Court of Arbitration for Sport that prevents them from signing any player over the age of 16 in the next two transfer windows.
The Sun quotes transfer guru Duncan Castles as saying the Brazil forward is keen to join Chelsea rather than interested clubs Manchester United and Paris Saint Germain. After Eden Hazard’s £135 million move to Real Madrid, Chelsea desperately need to replace the Belgium captain but cannot do so under current circumstances.
Castles suggests there is strong interest in the former Liverpool playmaker.
“Not as intense as the pursuit of [Ivan] Rakitic. Definite interest from PSG, who he’s been offered to. Coutinho’s obviously represented by a couple of agents who have very strong links to Chelsea, have done a huge number of deals to that club.
The briefing I had last week was that Coutinho’s preference would be to go to Chelsea rather than PSG. But of course, dependent on the transfer-window ban being lifted, which it looks almost certain not to happen. The idea that [Roman] Abramovich spends that amount of money on one player, in terms of salary and transfer fee, at a time when he’s trying to sell the club, strikes me as a little strange.”
Duncan Castles, Sun
Coutinho has struggled to break into the Barcelona side consistently since his mega move to the La Liga club in the January window of 2017.
