Chelsea to pay world record fee to land 21-year-old that Man United have their heart set on

It’s clear that if Chelsea want to be challenging again for the game’s biggest honours, they’ll need to re-evaluate their first-team playing options again this summer.

Despite a monumental clear out and the hire of some of the most coveted players over the past couple of transfer windows, the Blues still appear to be going backwards under Mauricio Pochettino.

Though they are into the FA Cup semi-finals and can get into Europe if they go all the way to winning the trophy, the sending off of Leicester’s Callum Doyle in the quarter-final changed the course of that tie, the Foxes in the ascendency after coming back from 2-0 down to be drawing 2-2 before the red card.

Should the Blues lose to Man City in the semi-final, that will likely ensure that the season will end trophyless for the West Londoners and with no prospect of European football for next season, a situation that owner, Todd Boehly, is simply not going to accept.

Chelsea want Jarrad Branthwaite

With one eye on next season, it seems that Chelsea still want to acquire best-in-class for various positions, but as TeamTalk note, if they want to land Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite, they will need to equal the world record £80m that Man United paid for Harry Maguire.

The Red Devils also have a strong interest in Branthwaite according to the outlet.

Though the 21-year-old clearly has a bright future in the game and plenty of years ahead of him until he reaches his peak, that sort of fee might be a bridge too far for Boehly, given that Financial Fair Play is going to play a big part in just how involved Chelsea can be in the summer transfer window.