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Chelsea return to Premier League action on Sunday afternoon with Crystal Palace the visitors to Stamford Bridge. The Blues, who were crowned champions of the world just over a month ago, are looking to improve on what turned out to be a hugely successful 2024/25 campaign.
Enzo Maresca is responsible for such a difficult task as the Chelsea head coach continues to prove his doubters wrong. The club have added a host of new players this summer to help Maresca juggle four competitions in what is set to be another lengthy campaign for the Blues.
With just over a fortnight remaining of the summer transfer window, the squad is not finalised just yet. There are still a few players looking to head through the exit door at Stamford Bridge, while Chelsea continue to work on a couple of deals behind the scenes.
The Blues remain in consistent dialogue with RB Leipzig over a move for Xavi Simons in what has become a rather frustrating transfer saga for supporters. The 22-year-old has a broad agreement over personal terms with the Blues, but there has been no breakthrough in negotiations with Leipzig at the time of writing.
There is a feeling Chelsea are waiting on one or two outgoings to conclude before they can really push through with Simons. Christopher Nkunku, namely, is someone the Blues are hoping to sell to help get the Simons deal over the line.
Meanwhile, Chelsea are in talks with Manchester United over a deal for Alejandro Garnacho. The Blues want to pay something around the £30million-mark for the Argentina international, while United are holding out for £50million, football.london understands.
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There are no issues with personal terms as Garnacho has made it clear he wants to be a part of the exciting project at Stamford Bridge. The player is waiting patiently for the two clubs to - for his sake, hopefully - come to an agreement.
There seems to be some sort of divide, or at least a difference of opinion, when it comes to the centre-back situation. Levi Colwill had surgery on an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury last week and will miss a significant chunk of the season - and Chelsea, unsurprisingly, have been linked with bringing a new defender to the club. Some reports, though, have suggested the Blues will look to find a solution internally rather than splashing out more money in the transfer window.
Maresca made it clear on Friday, though, that he believes Chelsea should be looking at recruiting a new central defender to help the squad deal with the absence of Colwill. In what was - from memory, anyway - a first as Chelsea head coach, Maresca spoke about disagreeing with the club in a very candid response about his options in the middle of defence.
"We are trying to find a solution internally but the club know exactly what I think," said the Italian on Friday morning. "I think we need a central defender. We are looking for an internal solution but as I said, the club know exactly what I think."
He added: "It's not on the left side. When we build, we build with Levi in the middle. It's different to the player in the middle on the left side. Last year we played 64 games and we played 64 games with Levi and Tosin. Now Levi is out. The only one that he can do that job well is Tosin. But we have Premier League, Champions League, these kind of players.
"The rest, they can adapt. Hato is a new one, he never played as the guy in the middle last season. So it's not about being a central defender. Yes, [he is a] central defender. Can he do that? It's different, it's not just about that.
"And also we have players that unfortunately, like Wes or Benoit, they have in this moment some problems. And this is the reason why I said that the club knows exactly what I think about central defenders."
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