Chelsea prepare monster bid for ideal transfer target as bizarre James Maddison decision made

Chelsea's young squad will be two weeks older when they next go into battle. That's a boost for Mauricio Pochettino as every little helps with what is a vastly inexperienced group at his disposal.

Although Thiago Silva is not yet 39, though he is just three weeks away from reaching a massive milestone, the rest of his teammates are at least ten years younger than him. Only Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell, 28 and 26 respectively, are even close, if a whole decade can be considered close.

There are some that are 20 years younger than most are at least 15 years his junior. He is the outlier in the squad but it doesn't take too much of a leap of faith to suggest that had Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital headed the club when he became available in 2020, even on a free transfer he wouldn't have been considered.

It is reported in the Telegraph and now by Ben Jacobs that the Blues didn't just make a vague plan to focus on arrivals aged 25 and younger, it was part of the reason they didn't go for new Tottenham midfielder James Maddison. At 26, he is the same age as Chilwell and only slightly older than Christopher Nkunku, Axel Disasi and Robert Sanchez.

That trio are the only players since last summer to arrive aged 25 or older. After Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's move 12 months ago it has been a case of Benjamin Button at Stamford Bridge with the development of an increasingly young squad.

Not going for Maddison, though, who is the exact type of player as an attacker behind a striker that they were looking for, is a massive issue if it is the case.

Chelsea running out of time to complete vital $61m deal after huge transfer window

football.london says: The only solace to this, if it's true, is that Spurs did always seem to be winning