“Growing confidence” that £50m man joins Chelsea; Real Madrid the major opposition | OneFootball

3 years into the Clealake-Boehly project, Chelsea were supposed to be title challengers by now. Instead, they’re barely clinging on to the status of Champions League challengers.

A lot of money has been spent, but there’s still precious little to show for it.

In defence, a slew of players have been brought in, but there’s still a real lack of a world class option in there. It’s no wonder we continue to be heavily linked with the likes of Bournemouth defender Dean Huijsen. He’s got a £50m release clause which is tempting a lot of teams, and according to the latest report from TeamTalk, Chelsea are very much in that race.

Their sources say that Chelsea have had “further talks” with the player, and that those talks were “extremely positive”. There is now “growing confidence” that Huijsen is “seriously considering” a move to Stamford Bridge.

Liverpool will still surely be keen, but signing Virgil Van Dijk to a two year extension has certainly reduced their immediate need. The only other major potential issue seems to be Real Madrid. It’s a dream move for Huijsen, but Los Blancos have spent big on attackers and may not be in a position to bring Huijsen in this summer.

Chelsea prepared to sell multiple defenders to clear the decks for Huijsen

Dean Huijsen is a Chelsea target. (Photo by Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images)

If Chelsea want to buy the defender they will have to sell a few players, but that shouldn’t be too hard – Axel Disasi, Trevoh Chalobah, Renato Veiga and perhaps even Tosin Adarabioyo could all go, and should have decent interest in the market.

With the likes of Levi Colwill and Benoit Badiashile sticking around, plus a host of rising talent in the academy, we would still be well stocked in defence if Huijsen comes in, even with a couple of sales.