Latest: Chelsea “open initial talks” over winger but are hoping Sesko deal done soon | OneFootball

Chelsea are really rattling through their summer business now.

With a lot of their buying done early, they’ve been focusing on the players they need to sell or loan, and have made good progress on that front. Lesley Ugochukwu was the latest to go, with his move to Burnley for £20m plus add ons confirmed last night.

Chelsea finally open talks over wantaway winger

Ben Jacobs says Chelsea have opened initial talks with Man U over Alejandro Garnacho.

That doesn’t mean the Blues are done buying though – in fact, according to the well connected Ben Jacobs, they might only be getting started on that front.

His Tweet from just minutes ago says that the Blues have finally made their long-standing interest in Alejandro Garnacho concrete by “opening initial talks” about the winger.

In the confusing modern transfer rumours parlance, this means that they have asked Manchester United how much they might want for the Argentine. If there seems to be common ground between valuations, the Blues will then make an actual opening bid, and negotiations can continue from there.

Chelsea happy to sit tight and wait for Man U to get desperate

Jacobs’ Tweet goes on to say that Man U want “in excess of £40m”, with Chelsea convinced that that price will drop if RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko moves to Old Trafford. The logic there presumably is that United will need a sale for FFP purposes once they spend £80m+ on the striker.

As we’ve said many times, Chelsea are in a great position here. They’re well stocked in attack, and only want Garnacho at a major discount as an opportunistic buy. There is no rush on our end. £40m is already a good price – if we can drive that down further, so much the better.

This looks likely to go right up to the deadline.