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

Chelsea transfer news with the latest media briefing from Stamford Bridge including reaction to stories on Ivan Toney and James Maddison

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.

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.

football.london says: The only solace to this, if it's true, is that Spurs did always seem to be winning the race for Maddison. It was Antonio Conte who pushed for him last summer and the deal to get him in the window just passed was wrapped up swiftly. If Chelsea were in the mix, then they had little chance.

To further that, Chelsea had Nkunku until the end of pre-season and grand plans to use him in the No.10 and floating role that Maddison would fit in at SW6 in another universe. It's the logic of such a decision in the first place and the blanket rule against players over 25 that doesn't make sense.

Chelsea were previously cautious of offering new deals to those over 30, which was wrong as well, but going the other way is just as reductionist. Creating a squad of players who are young and can grow together isn't just about finding only those that are still teenagers