Chelsea have delayed their big summer move for striker until this happens

Jhon Duran is just one of a few strikers which Chelsea have been heavily linked with this summer, without actually concluding a move.

Everything seemed set up, both with Aston Villa and the player, but then went very quiet. A move to sign Marc Guiu is moving ahead – but the 18 year old is seen as one for the future, and is likely to spend the season on loan even when he’s signed.

So what’s going on with the endless search for Nicolas Jackson’s backup? The sporting directors have had all year to think about it, why haven’t they picked their man and made it happen?

According to Simon Phillips, writing exclusively on his Substack, it’s because they preferably want to make sure they’ve sorted their sales before bringing new faces in. There are two strikers on the books they definitely want to clear out, and once that’s done they will bring deals like the move for Duran back to life.

Two strikers on the way out

Armando Broja and Romelu Lukaku are both being linked with transfers away, but nothing seems particularly close just yet. AC Milan “want Lukaku, but only on loan,” while Broja “has a lot of interest from all around Europe and in the Premier League.

Lukaku’s wages always make moving him on tricky – last year we tried to sell him then eventually cracked our resolve and let him go on loan.

Broja is an interesting case – Phillips reports that Chelsea are keen to use him as a “sweetener” in trade deals, which are becoming increasingly popular in this world of PSR tricks. It sounds like there’s plenty of teams who want him, so even if we can’t put package him off somewhere, we should be able to wrap up a sale pretty late in the window.