This morning’s updates on Chelsea’s chase for Barcelona striker Marc Guiu make it clear that a deal is very close.
Matteo Moretto of Relevo has said that his “move to Chelsea is imminent”, while Fabrizio Romano has described it as being in the “final stages.”
Luis Rojo adds some interesting detail, writing that Chelsea will pay the €6m release clause and also have tripled the €2m gross salary that Barca offered to their academy product to keep him.
We’ve worked our way down the list of forwards pretty quickly in the last few weeks. Clearly a lot of effort went into the Jhon Duran deal, but once it became clear he likely wasn’t going to be arriving, the co-sporting directors have moved swiftly to get Guiu. His release clause makes things pretty easy, but it will be interesting to see whether he’s considered sufficient on his own to strengthen us up top.
Everyone is pretty pleased with Nicolas Jackson as our main option, but there was an understandable desire to give him some support. We got pretty lucky with his fitness last season, and can’t rely on him staying clear of injury all year every year. Guiu is not what most people had in mind, but could yet be a smart pickup.
🔵⏳ Chelsea and Marc Guiu, moving to the final stages with clear plan: triggering €6m release clause.
Work in progress. ⤵️🇪🇸 https://t.co/IBZpuDRnd3
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 25, 2024
Plans post-signing up front
Other sources this morning have reported that Chelsea may not stop with Guiu: the Athletic say “another bid for [Atletico Madrid striker Samu] Omorodion has not been ruled out.”
It seems to be implied that this situation won’t change even with Guiu signed, but we would bet heavily against us spending heavily on someone like Omorodion (currently valued at over €35m) if the Barcelona striker is signed. We will then have Guiu, Jackson and Christopher Nkunku – that strikes us as deep enough considering there are needs elsewhere in the team.
