Exclusive claims Chelsea have new £30m swap plan to sign winger | OneFootball

Ed Aarons of the Guardian doesn’t get loads of exclusively, but it’s worth listening when he does.

He’s the latest to report on the Xavi Simons to Chelsea transfer, which has ground to a halt in the last week after having looked close to done not long before that.

The deal is still simmering away, with a new angle to it revealed today.

Nkunku swap an ambitious new angle on deal

Christopher Nkunku arrives at the Club World Cup final. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)

We’ve known for a while that Chelsea want to sell players before they complete this deal, which explains why things slowed down. But Aarons claims there’s another way around – including Christopher Nkunku in a part exchange deal for Simons.

Nkunku is one of the players the Blues would like to sell, with the Blues valuing him at £40m. Aarons says they’d like to pay £30m plus the player for Simons.

Nkunku would be returning to RB Leipzig, his former team. But it’s not clear how open to that the France international would be.

Leipzig have themselves just sold Benjamin Sesko to Man U for £75m, and are looking to add to their front line. Adding Nkunku, who did so well for them before his ill fated move to Chelsea, would be ideal.

Chelsea look to add Nkunku to sales pile before adding more talent

Despite Chelsea’s strong start in preseason, it’s clear that the club still think they need another attacking option with Nkunku on the way out. As well as Simons, the interest in Alejandro Garnacho seems very solid. All our sources are saying we’re keen to sign both, but the first step in all this is finding a taker for Nkunku.

Bayern Munich remain interested, and are close to selling Kingsley Coman to Al Nassr – that could really unlock things.