Romano: European giants plotting double raid on Chelsea for defensive duo

Fabrizio Romano: Barcelona looking to facilitate transfers for Chelsea duo Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta

According to Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano on Twitter, Barcelona are looking to facilitate transfers for Chelsea duo Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta ahead of this summer. Their departures would add to the defensive woes the English club is already suffering from at this moment.

Romano has firmly confirmed that Alonso is set to leave the Blues in the summer transfer window. Barca are interested in signing him, but it would depend on the final price tag associated with the potential move. It is still unknown whether the Blues will reach an agreement with the Spanish club in the future.

As for Azpilicueta, he has already been offered a two-year contract by the Blaugrana side, but a final decision has not been made so far. That is because he is looking to hold a meeting with Thomas Tuchel’s side to reach a firm stance regarding his future at Stamford Bridge.

Concerning summer up ahead

In an ideal scenario, losing the Spanish duo would not have been worrying as we would have needed to replace them sometime in the future anyway. However, the circumstances are different right now, considering how the West Londoners are set to lose Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger to Xavi Hernandez’s side and Real Madrid, respectively, this summer.

That, coupled with these latest developments, further adds to the troubles that we will endure at the end of this season. As such, we are also forced to look at wing-back on both sides of the pitch, which could provide a massive headache for Tuchel as it is not easy to restructure the entire backline at once.

Alonso has had a mixed time with us this term, and it would have made sense to replace him after this campaign. Ben Chilwell will probably be our starter once he returns from his long term injury, and we could use a backup option in the future. However, with the centre-back position also being a major concern, it remains to be seen if we can address all these issues at once.

The situation with Azpilicueta is quite similar to Alonso, as the skipper’s departure would leave us empty-handed in terms of backing Reece James. As such, signing a suitable backup option would be crucial this summer, but with exits in other roles as well, the fans are left worried whether the club can solve these problems altogether.

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If Chelsea are bound to lose Alonso and Azpilicueta to the La Liga giants, they must do their best to get as much as possible in transfer fees this summer. That could be crucial in ensuring that our budget can be managed to meet our needs for the next season.