Chelsea are about to add £32m player to squad after transfer bombshell

Chelsea spent another huge sum of money this summer, but the transfer activity has not stopped.

The west Londoners have announced a pre-agreement to sign Strasbourg forward and captain Emmanuel Emegha, after tracking his progress for months. The striker is expected to arrive at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2026, after Chelsea owners BlueCo, who also own the Ligue 1 side, allowed the 22-year-old to remain with Liam Rosenior's side for another year.

He is not the only player who will be arriving in west London in the summer of 2026, as Geovany Quenda will arrive from Sporting Lisbon and Brazilian defender Denner Evangelista will join from Corinthians. Reports understand Emegha's arrival next year is one reason why Chelsea chose not to sign another striker after Liam Delap injured his hamstring against Fulham.

At present, it's currently unknown as to how much Chelsea will pay the French side for the Netherlands U21 international, who boasts an impressive record of 23 goals in 57 league appearances for Strasbourg. However, the CIES Observatory states his 'Fair market price' is hovering between £27.7m and £32m.

This does not necessarily mean Chelsea's fee will be in and around this figure. Emegha's fast ascent up the ranks in France is also reflected in his skyrocketing market value.

According to Transfermarkt, his value was estimated to be around £17m in March. As of June, this increased to £22m, suggesting Chelsea will be in possession of a striker who is developing at a rate of knots.

Since the BlueCo takeover in 2022, the majority of the focus has been paid towards the record-breaking signings of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, as well as other monumental outlays on Mykhalo Mudryk, Raheem Sterling, Wesley Fofana and other hugely expensive players.

However, they also quietly signed young talents such as Andrey Santos, Estevao Willian, Mamadou Sarr, Mike Penders and Kendry Paez, who are either already within Enzo Maresca's squad or are scheduled to become permanent members next season. Estevao's impressive performances in his debut campaign are the blueprint of how the Chelsea board want their young players to develop.

They will be hoping the Brazilian's success can be replicated with Penders, Paez and Sarr, who are playing alongside Emegha at Strasbourg, while Santos also featured with the Dutchman during his own loan spell at the club. The Chelsea loanees will have plenty of games to develop, as Strasbourg will be competing in the Europa Conference League this season after finishing sixth in Ligue 1 in the last campaign.

Should they shock the football world by lifting the competition Chelsea won last year, Emegha would be the one lifting the trophy. In an ideal world, Maresca would surely like him in his squad which travels to face Brentford on Saturday evening.

The Chelsea boss will be without Delap until December, after the hamstring injury he picked up against Fulham was deemed to be worse than originally thought. The Blues recalled Marc Guiu from his season-long loan to try and plug the gap left behind by Delap and by Nicolas Jackson, who secured a loan move to Bayern Munich on transfer deadline day.

Joao Pedro is Chelsea's only senior centre-forward, but Maresca suggested he may not feature against the Bees after playing for Brazil at Bolivia's Estadio de Villa Ingenio, a stadium which is more than 11,000 ft above sea level. In the past, Brazil players have been seen using oxygen masks at half-time and after games.

Santos, Estevao and Pedro all featured against the Bolivians, who overcame the five-time World Cup winners 1-0. After Brentford, Chelsea's Champions League campaign gets up and running with an ominous trip to Germany to face Bayern Munich.

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