Chelsea may have been handed a significant boost in their pursuit of Borussia Dortmund winger Jamie Gittens.
The 20-year-old emerged as a target for the Blues earlier in the summer. But despite submitting several bids, Chelsea did not manage to strike a deal before the first transfer window closed for the Club World Cup squad registration deadline.
When discussing why talks stalled, Dortmund’s sporting director Sebastian Kehl said: “We didn’t come to an agreement on Jamie because we have different ideas about the player’s current value.”
With that in mind, Standard Sport reported on Tuesday that Gittens remains a top priority transfer target for Chelsea despite rumoured interest from Bayern Munich.
In fact, according to fresh reports in The Athletic, the west London outfit are set to beat the Bundesliga champions to the punch, and hope to reach an agreement in short order.
Interestingly, Gittens is not in the Dortmund squad for their final Club World Cup group stage clash against Ulsan HD with head coach Niko Kovac revealing the winger is suffering from illness.
Speaking to reporters, Kovac said: “Marcel Sabitzer has had a bit of trouble with his knee. He took a knock and has therefore trained a bit less – today he participated in parts of team training again. We’ll have to see how things are for him tomorrow.
“The only one who won’t be involved is Jamie Gittens. We left him in Fort Lauderdale because he’s sick.”
However, German publication Ruhr Nachrichten are reporting that Gittens' absence is largely down to protecting his 'imminent' move to Chelsea.
