Good morning, Chelsea fans. Here are your morning headlines for Friday, June 19.
Blues prepared to cash in on Kante
Chelsea are willing to sell midfielder N’Golo Kante to help fund their squad rebuild this summer, report The Times .
The signings of Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner have already been secured from Ajax and RB Leipzig respectively, and other targets in the pipeline include Bayer Leverkusen star Kai Havertz and Leicester City's Ben Chilwell.
And Kante - who has starred for the club since his 2016 switch from Leicester - may be one of the players to make way.
The Frenchman has struggled with injuries this season and the emergence of Billy Gilmour prior to football's suspension has made the battle for central midfield positions at Stamford Bridge even more competitive.
Bayern and Real out of Havertz race
Chelsea’s hopes of signing Havertz have been boosted as Bayern Munich and Real Madrid have both dropped out of the race to sign the 20-year-old this summer.
That is according to a report in The Express , which claims Bayern want to focus their efforts on Manchester City forward Leroy Sane and can't afford to sign both Germans.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, are said to be the frontrunners for Havertz, who has a reported transfer valuation of £90million, but want to complete a deal next year.
On Thursday, the German international ‘liked’ a tweet asking Chelsea to ‘Announce Havertz’ which further fueled transfer speculation about a move to Stamford Bridge.
Werner ramps up pressure for Champions League spot
Chelsea's signing of Werner has put further pressure on Frank Lampard’s side to secure Champions League football this season.
That is outlined by a piece in football.london , which highlights how the £47million fee for the German international has been added to the transfer spend to land Ajax star Ziyech.
Champions League football is far from secured for the Blues next season despite the club currently sitting fourth in the standings and fifth place potentially being enough for the competition due to Manchester City’s European ban.
The Blues have nine matches remaining to ensure Champions League football for next season.
