Chelsea ‘long-term admirers’ of PSG star as blockbuster move for £100m Liverpool target also considered

Chelsea are reportedly big fans of Paris Saint-Germain star Vitinha, while they are also keen to sign a classy Newcastle United ace as they try to greatly improve Mauricio Pochettino’s squad.

Chelsea have spent big money to revamp their midfield options in the past couple of seasons. They spent a huge £107million to sign Enzo Fernandez from Benfica in January 2023 and broke the British transfer record again last summer by landing Brighton’s Moises Caicedo in a deal which could reach £115m.

Chelsea have also spent upwards of £50m on Romeo Lavia, while Lesley Ugochukwu moved from Rennes to Stamford Bridge for £23.5m.

Despite those notable deals, Chelsea are still on the hunt for further midfield reinforcements. Lavia and Ugochukwu, in addition to Carney Chukwuemeka, are out injured, while Caicedo has struggled in recent months.

Plus, Chelsea might be forced into selling key Pochettino star Conor Gallagher in order to help balance the books. As Gallagher is a Chelsea academy graduate, his sale would go down as pure profit.

These factors have seen the Blues consider a swoop for PSG’s Vitinha. As per HITC, Chelsea are ‘long-term admirers’ of the 24-year-old, having first looked at him during his Porto days.

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Vitinha already has experience in England, having represented Wolverhampton Wanderers during a loan spell in the 2020-21 campaign.

Wolves had the option to make Vitinha’s loan move permanent, but he did not do enough to convince them on that transfer.

Vitinha a target for Chelsea

The Portugal international did not give up though and went on to enjoy a fantastic season with Porto in 2021-22, which earned him a £34m switch to PSG in July 2022.

Vitinha is thriving under Luis Enrique in the French capital, which means PSG will hold out for big money before letting him go. But this is unlikely to put Chelsea off, as co-owner Todd Boehly has repeatedly shown he is willing to part with massive sums to get his top targets.

Vitinha is not the only midfielder Chelsea are casting admiring glances towards, as the report also puts them in the mix for Newcastle star Guimaraes.

Chelsea chiefs have been very impressed with how Guimaraes has adapted to the Premier League since joining Newcastle in January 2022.

Indeed, the Brazilian has emerged into one of Eddie Howe’s most important stars, and Magpies fans would be gutted to see him leave.

However, Newcastle might be forced into selling one or two of their best players this summer in order to comply with Financial Fair Play rules. This could give Chelsea an opportunity to snare Guimaraes in a transformative summer deal, though Newcastle have set his price tag at a whopping £100m.

If Chelsea decide to go all out for Guimaraes, then this would set up a transfer battle with Liverpool. In early February, it emerged that Liverpool hold concrete interest in snapping up the 26-year-old.

Other midfielders on Chelsea’s radar include Barcelona ace Frenkie de Jong, whom Manchester United have previously failed to sign, as well as French pair Manu Kone (Borussia Monchengladbach) and Khephren Thuram (Nice).

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