Arsenal primed to pounce amid Chelsea concerns regarding £69m centre-back transfer

Arsenal and Newcastle are both reportedly waiting in the wings as Chelsea could possibly be forced to swerve the £69million transfer of Ousmane Diomande.

Chelsea have signed a number of expensive centre-backs in recent transfer windows, and the upcoming one may be no different. Indeed, they signed Axel Disasi for £38million in the summer, and Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile and Kalidou Koulibaly for a combined total of over £130million the previous summer.

Despite having a number of expensive centre-backs to call upon, their defence is still rather leaky. They’ve concede 43 Premier League goals in 26 games so far this season.

As such, they’re looking to tighten up again, and have had Sporting man Diomande on their radar for some time.

TEAMtalk recently revealed that Newcastle man Sven Botman is also on their defensive shortlist, but Diomande is the first name on it.

The Ivorian centre-back will cost whoever buys him £69million, with his value protected by a release clause.

That’s commonplace in Portuguese football, and Sporting will refuse to sell the centre-back for anything below that price.

Portuguese outlet Record reinforce that Chelsea are ‘very keen’ to snap up Diomande this summer.

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Concern over Chelsea finances

They are said to have already contacted his representatives to get personal terms out of the way before securing the transfer.

However, the deal itself might be more difficult to get over the line than it might seem.

Indeed, the potential tightening of Chelsea pursestrings due to Financial FairPlay concerns is mentioned in the report, and that could mean Diomande does not move to Stamford Bridge.

At least there’s a chance he might not before the Blues ship some players out, with TEAMtalk recently revealing the club are still looking at pure profit sales of the likes of Conor Gallagher, Armando Broja and Trevoh Chalobah.

Arsenal, Newcastle waiting to pounce

But if FFP concerns are to cause a problem, it’s said Diomande could move to one of Arsenal or Newcastle.

Indeed, both of those clubs are named as having an interest in the centre-back.

That said, while Chelsea already have the wheels in motion, the clubs will be ready to pounce if anything goes wrong and they are unable to make the signing.

A move to Arsenal might be more attractive for Diomande anyway, but Chelsea do have a way of convincing players to join them rather than clubs in better positions, and they seem in a decent spot for the Ivorian at the moment.

Also in the mix are Juventus, so it’s not a given that the Blues will get the move over the line.

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