Stamford Bridge is still waiting for the first transfer this summer. Raheem Sterling has been agreed, but not officially, and after the pre-announced exodus of several players and a possible parting with others, the new owner of Chelsea, Todd Boehly, is currently working on jobs that would give Thomas Tuchel the opportunity to have a more competitive season than the previous one.It was for this reason that the American businessman flew to Catalonia to have dinner in an elite restaurant with Barcelona president Joan Laporta, director Mateu Alemany and consultant Jordi Cruyff. The journalists there readily welcomed this meeting, which lasted only one hour before Boehly left the bar. He did not want to confirm or deny that there were discussions about transfers, but before getting into the car he said that everyone “enjoyed a good evening”. Almost an hour and a half later, Barcelona’s trio came out of the same restaurant, which also explained in a few words that it was an “institutional visit” by the first man of the London club.Spanish journalists are intrigued to know why Chelsea owner Todd Boehly is in Barcelona, he was asked & he replied for a meal. I suspect his here to talk about Frenkie de Jong. pic.twitter.com/MzbE2VjrhK— Frank Khalid (@FrankKhalidUK) July 7, 2022 However, well-informed sources in Barcelona and London managed to get the details of the meeting. During the dinner, they talked about the two “trades” and the status of Frankie de Jong. Since taking full control of Chelsea, Boehly has begun to advocate for the introduction of an internal policy of exchanging players with other clubs modeled after the American business model in sports, so Mundo Deportivo reports that one of the ideas proposed on Thursday evening is for Barcelona to sign Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta for Sergino Dest and Memphis Depay.It’s no secret that Barcelona managers want to bring in two more defenders from Chelsea after already signing Andreas Christensen, and Xavi’s desire is especially Azpilicueta, whom he has known for a long time and played together in the Spanish national team.The Chelsea captain is currently on holiday in Italy and the Barcelona boss is keen to reach an agreement on his transfer before Saturday, when the London giants travel on a pre-season tour of the USA. Azpi has been a Chelsea player for ten years and has won everything there is to win; in the meantime, he took over the captain’s armband and earned a reputation as one of the best signings in the club’s history and in the Roman Abramovich era.##NAJAVA_MECA_6495923##His contract with Chelsea expired on July 1, but was automatically extended for another year after he played the required minimum of 30 games last season. Certainly, his transfer would not require a lot of money, although Barcelona’s possibilities are not too great either due to accumulated debts and other plans for this summer. Finances did stabilize after certain maneuvers by people from the top, but again, this does not leave much room for spending outside the established framework.To make room for a potential deal, Barcelona plan to give up Dest, who did not manage in Catalonia. A big plus for Boehly would be a signing of a member of the USA national team, and reportedly he suits Tuchel’s style of play. As for Depay, he could jump in as a trade player instead of Alonso even though they don’t play the same positions. Tuchel is looking for another attacker, and it is known that he prefers attackers who can cover more places on the field, than a classic no.9, which is why he gave up Romelu Lukaku in favor of Timo Werner and especially Kai Havertz. Depay fits that picture, but the question is whether he has the desire to return to the Island after a bad experience at Manchester United. Alonso got more playing minutes last season due to the serious injury of Ben Chilwell, but as the English representative will return to the starting line-up, his role will decrease again. Full-backs are essential for Barca as previous attempts to find replacements for Jordi Alba and Dani Alves have been unsuccessful.De Jong’s transfer to United comes to a halt due to Barca’s 20 million euros debtBoehly’s first target is De Jong, who would like to leave the Camp Nou stadium and move to Manchester United under former boss Erik Ten Hag, but certain obstacles hinder this transfer.De Jong is waiting to establish an agreement with Barca regarding the debt of 20 million euros for salaries and bonuses from the covid seasons and at the moment Manchester United are closer to him than Chelsea, although they do not plan to give up so easily at Stamford Bridge. They are ready to pay the asking price, the sum of 80 million euros is mentioned, and now everything is up to Barcelona. Laporta recently said publicly that the Dutchman is not for sale, but it is clear to everyone that the club will not be able to turn down such money, especially since Xavi has other plans for the midfield that has recently been strengthened by Franck Kessie.Manchester United fans seeing Todd Boehly in Barcelona 🤣 pic.twitter.com/kBn4KRpULW— Sey Banku ❤🇬🇭♋ (@sey_amen_) July 7, 2022 While waiting for the formalization of Raheem Sterling, Chelsea are trying to convince Ousmane Dembele to come. He is out of contract and is currently weighing up whether to stay at Barca or move to West London. Matthijs de Ligt, who is closer to Bayern, is also interesting to the Blues. At the same time, Barca are working on Robert Lewandowski, as well as Leeds’ Raphinha.
