Borussia Dortmund have announced that Jamie Gittens is ‘on the verge’ of joining Chelsea, while Enzo Maresca’s side have surprisingly been praised for signing Liam Delap over Victor Osimhen.
Chelsea started the bidding for Gittens at £42m (€49m / $57m), but this was rejected by Dortmund. Softfootball had earlier reported that Chelsea were getting closer to striking an agreement for the England U21 star, and that happened a few days later.
The Europa Conference League winners had initially been hoping to sign Nico Williams from Athletic Club. But after he signalled a desire to join Barcelona, the Blues pivoted towards Gittens.
Enzo Maresca was asked about in his pre-match press conference tonight in Philadelphia, and he was just as confused as anybody.
“Uh […] it’s already official? (Press officer shakes head.) I don’t have any updates, to be honest. I was in the flight watching Palmeiras game again (laughs). I don’t know. Not yet. Probably something can happen, but I don’t have more information about that.”
Chelsea were heavily linked with Victor Osimhen before they brought in Delap and Joao Pedro from Ipswich Town and Brighton, respectively, and Osimhen would be keen on a move to Stamford Bridge as Didier Drogba is his idol.
But during an appearance on John Obi Mikel’s The Obi One podcast, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink cast doubt over whether Osimhen would have succeeded at Chelsea.
“I know he’s your countryman but I’m not convinced of Osimhen for the Premier League,” he said.
“For Spain, for Italy – yes. For the Premier League? I’m not 100 per cent sure.”
Hasselbaink continued: “I really like Jackson. Why? Because he brings a lot of energy to the team and people don’t see that.
“The pressing from the front, the work-rate – all that kind of stuff is so important for a successful team.
“Then he gets lots of chances. He needs to get better at finishing, but I’d rather have a striker who gets lots of chances than a striker who doesn’t get chances.
“So first of all, he is getting chances, now we can work on his finishing and calmness and make him understand.
“Let’s not forget before Villareal, he was playing nowhere. So he started at Villareal, and now he’s here and he’s still very young. So you can still improve him.”
Recall, Softfootball had previously reported that Chelsea are interested in another Premier League attacker after Joao Pedro, Jamie Gittens’ deals.
Chelsea are reportedly interested in West Ham United star, Mohammed Kudus, despite agreeing deals to sign Jamie Gittens and officially signing Joao Pedro from Brighton.
Ahead of the new season, the Blues, who are currently on Club World Cup duty, have already been busy in the transfer market with Liam Delap, Estevao, Dario Essugo, Kendry Paez, Mamadou Sarr, and Joao Pedro all joining this summer.
