Chelsea chiefs are keeping a close eye on an upcoming talent and could make a move to bring the forward to Stamford Bridge to ease their goalscoring woes, according to reports.
What's the latest news involving Chelsea?
As per The Evening Standard, Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that he didn't have much to do with deciding on whether defender Marc Cucurella should've been kept around at Stamford Bridge in the midst of the Spaniard seeing a late move to Manchester United collapse on Deadline Day.
Pochettino stated: "I don’t know because I wasn’t involved in this situation, that was more the sporting director, the [player’s] agent and the club. After, when the transfer window closed, we were talking in my office. We were really clear about how I see and assess him and I listened to his feelings. Of course, it was a difficult time for him after he arrived from Brighton. It was tough, not only for him, but many, many players."
Chelsea make the short travel to face neighbors Fulham on Monday night in the Premier League and will sport their new front-of-shirt sponsor Infinite Athlete for the first time this campaign, after agreeing a deal with the US-based sports technology firm that will net them north of £40 million in 2023/24, as per BBC Sport.
Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has delivered an update on social media platform X detailing the fortunes of Chelsea youngster Andrey Santos, who is out on loan at Nottingham Forest, stating: "Zero minutes again for Andrey Santos in Nottingham Forest-Brentford — 99 mins spent on the bench. He joined the club on loan from Chelsea in August after more than 10 loan requests over the summer."
Brazil Under-23 international Santos has featured just once on loan at the Tricky Trees, playing the entire 90 minutes in Nottingham Forest's Carabao Cup second round defeat to Burnley in late August, as per Transfermarkt.
Who are Chelsea signing in 2024?
According to Football Insider, Stamford Bridge chiefs are keeping a close eye on Brighton & Hove Albion talent Simon Adingra, and they are said to have been impressed by his strong start to the new campaign.
Adingra has been identified as an 'ideal' solution to Pochettino's lack of cutting edge in attack and the Blues are eyeing a move for the Ivory Coast international to add an extra attacking option to help provide competition to Nicolas Jackson. Todd Boehly and company have made a point of targeting players under the age of 25, and the 21-year-old has been placed on their transfer shortlist.
The Ivorian forward has made seven appearances in all competitions for the Seagulls this term, registering one goal and one assist in the process, as per Transfermarkt.
Arriving from FC Nordsjaelland in 2022, the Right to Dream academy graduate was given heavy praise by Brighton technical director David Weir, who stated: "We’re delighted to welcome Simon to the club. He’s an exciting young player who has had a terrific start to his career in Denmark. He’s a creative offensive player who can play on both sides and is very good in one-on-one situations. He’s a talented young player who we’ve had an eye on for a while, and we’re looking forward to helping him with his development.”
Working hard off the ball, Adingra has also excelled in comparison to his positional peers in Europe's top five leagues in the field of interceptions, averaging around 1.19 per 90 minutes across the last 365 days, putting him in the 99th percentile for this metric, according to FBRef, showing he works hard pressing from the front.
Chelsea are getting a reputation as a hub for young talent and Adingra would add plenty of distinguishable qualities to Pochettino's forward line.
