City open door for Chelsea to sign superstar, Chelsea in hunt to sign Messi fans told, Chelsea close in on £54 million signing and Rice wants to emulate greats

chelsea, upamecano

Chelsea get Messi boost, Balague makes Messi claim, Upamecano boost given and Rice keen to be great in icchelseanews roundup…

Chelsea will ‘definitely’ be in the race to sign Lionel Messi if he is available next summer, claims Spanish football expert Guillem Balague.

Messi hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in the summer after it was revealed they he had handed in a transfer request to leave the club after the Spaniards failed to pick up any silverware by the end of the season.

Manchester United and Manchester City have all been credited with moves for the player, as there are only a number of clubs in the Premier League that would be able to afford the superstar

However, despite all the talks that he was leaving the club, ultimately he opened up and revealed that he would see out his current deal which ends in 2021 as he did not want to take Barcelona through the courts in order to get a move away from the club.

But there is still talk that he will leave Barcelona at the end of the season, with the Premier League his preferred destination, and Balague has opened up and suggested that we will be one of the clubs that will have a very good chance of signing the Argentine superstar.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, he said: “Chelsea, definitely in the equation if Messi becomes available.

Chelsea been handed a boost in their chase for French defender Dayot Upamecano

Upamecano has become one of the most in-demand young defenders in the game right now and has been attracting interest from all the Premier League’s big clubs, with the club in the chase to land the gifted Frenchman.

Frank Lampard may have spent some serious money in the last transfer window transforming this side, but there is still talk that he needs to delve into that transfer kitty one more time in the coming windows in order to add another defender to the squad.

Thiago Silva has been brilliant  since his move to the club, but he will not be around forever, while Antonio Rudiger is linked with a move away from the club and Kurt Zouma is still trying to establish himself in the Premier League, meaning that Upamecano would be needed.

Now, according to former Premier League star Jan Aage Fjortoft, Upamecano will be leaving Leipzig in the coming transfer windows with the German side open to the idea of letting him leave for the right amount of money.

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Chelsea target Declan Rice is hoping to emulate Premier League greats Patrick Vieira and Yaya Toure.

West Ham decided to turn Rice from Centre-back to holding midfielder just a couple of seasons ago, and since they done that, the Englishman has flourished so much, that he is heavily tipped to become one of the very best in world football.

His quality on the pitch have him back on our radar, but a man who started out as a centre-half is eager to nail down a role in a holding midfield berth – allowing him to follow in the footsteps of Manchester City and Arsenal icons.

“I see this as my position, 100 per cent,” Rice said on operating in the engine room.

“I’ve played in midfield for the last three seasons and I think a lot of people get carried away with what they want me to do!

“My role is a holding midfielder and there’s not really any flair in that. I’m disciplined, I make sure I’m always available for the team, I’m always in position, I get my passes off quick, I intercept and I tackle. I think a lot of people want to see things like stepovers and I’ve got that in the locker, but that’s not my role!

“I can play at centre-half, but I’ve got much more to give and I think my confidence is growing in midfield. The more I start driving forward with the ball like I’ve done in recent games, the more I’ll grow into that position.

“I watched the top players like Yaya Toure and Patrick Vieira and every time they see a bit of space, they’d drive into it and look powerful and strong and as a holding midfielder that’s rare these days, so if I can keep adding that into my game, I can keep catching the eye.

“They, as well as [Roy] Keane and [Claude] Makelele, were wonderful footballers but they never overcomplicated things and knew what their games were and knew what their weaknesses were, and I do too.

“I think some fans are calling on social media for me to get the ball off Lukasz Fabianski and run the whole length of the pitch and score with the back of my head, but that’s not my job!

“My job is to protect the team, have good positional awareness, get on the ball, keep it simple and keep it ticking.

“I know what my strengths are and what to base my game around.”

Manchester City have reportedly decided against making a move for Chelsea target Lionel Messi, La Liga TV presenter Semra Hunter reports.

It is no secret that Messi is in the headlines for all the wrong reasons over the past few months, as his performance levels have dropped and he has constantly been linked with a move to the Premier League.

City have been made the favourites to get a transfer deal done, as Pep Guardiola is the boss of the club, but we have also been linked with a transfer move, as Roman Abramovic is a massive fan of the Argentine.

Now the Blues have been given a big boost in their chase, as Hunter claims that City are put off by the Barcelona superstar’s age, while the financial side of any potential deal – with Messi’s contract expiring in 2021 – also a concern.

She told Sky Sports: “I have it on good authority from someone close to the situation that Manchester City are not going to bid for Lionel Messi.

“Based on the information I have, as of today, that door is closed.

“They have two reasons for this: age and finances. Talking about age, he is heading into the twilight years of his career and you’ll be bringing on board a Messi that is different to what we’ve seen for the last 17 years with Barcelona. Even he himself has said that he is getting closer to the dreaded r-word of retirement more so than anyone cares to admit.

“That goes hand-in-hand with finances because even though he would be able to join for free, his wages are astronomically high – he is earning about 100m euros-a-year. That would be a huge financial burden for any club to take on, especially given the fact that we are in the middle of a global pandemic.”

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