🚨 With Marco Palestra bought to operate primarily as a right wing-back, captain Reece James is seen as the player to fill the spot vacated by Enzo Fernandez. A new midfielder in January will depend on Chelsea’s progress over the next four months and whether any other fitness issues in key areas have emerged.
Chelsea wanted to move on from players who had close ties to former head coach Enzo Maresca. Sources familiar with negotiations on the City side say that Chelsea asked City to back away from signing Bouaddi so that he could replace Enzo and to swap O’Reilly for Gusto + money.
Malo Gusto had been seen as an ideal option for right-back for City but they had no intention of paying Chelsea’s £80m asking price. Pedro Neto was also scouted but Chelsea's fee was too high. CFC deny that they asked for City to step aside for Bouaddi and that Gusto was never available.
Only three players earmarked for a possible departure remain:
The focus is on integrating Kendry Paez and working on improving his standards.
Aaron Anselmino is now part of the first-team squad.
Gaga Slonina is going to compete for the third-choice role along with Teddy Sharman-Lowe.
(theathleticfc)
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2September 3, 2026 3.2K 1
