Chelsea are having a funny old summer. It was pretty clear going into it what their needs were, and they made a strong start by hoovering up some cheap options (Tosin Adarabioyo, Marc Guiu, Renato Veiga) as well as a player familiar to the manager (Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall) and one piece of what appears to be simple accounting magic (Omari Kellyman).
But the main holes in the team still need to be addressed: an elite right winger, and elite striker, and an elite goalkeeper.
The first two are less pressing because we have brilliant right wing talents arriving next summer, plus a spread of strikers who can potentially do the job if they stay fit and improve on last season.
It’s in goal where we still lack a top option, and we’ve heard precious little chat about who might come in. So it was a relief to at least get a whisper of some rumours yesterday. Tom Collomosse of the Daily Mail says that new manager Enzo Maresca is keen to bring the stopper he coached at Leicester with him to Chelsea. Mads Hermansen proved he could play in the style Maresca wants last season, and seems an ideal person to reunite with at Stamford Bridge.
🔵 Along with Dewsbury-Hall, Enzo Maresca also a *big* admirer of Hermansen, as #lcfc fans know well.
🔵 Unclear whether admiration will develop into anything more solid but Danish goalkeeper is valued at about £45m
— Tom Collomosse (@TomCollomosse) July 21, 2024
Prohibitive price kills what could be a dream deal
There is one major issue however – the £45m fee cited by Collomosse. That’s just crazy money given Chelsea bought two goalkeepers last summer. Hermansen cost the Foxes €7.7m last summer, and while he had a great season in the Championship and is now a Premier League player, it’s hard to see the Blues shelling out that sort of cash.
We simply can’t see Chelsea paying that sort of money, and we can’t see Leicester lowing their asking price too much, given their intent is to try and avoid relegation this year.
