Athletic note Chelsea’s Champions League squad decision in August opened the door for €70m+ January deal | OneFootball

Chelsea are pushing forward with a deal to try and sign Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes, and Simon Johnson’s piece for the Athletic today has some interesting information on the deal.

He points out that the Blues left a space on their UEFA A list to allow them to add any potential January signings to their squad for the knockout stages. Jacquet looks a top player, despite his young age, and we’re really excited to see where he fits in.

Wesley Fofana and Trevoh Chalobah have formed a solid partnership at the back, but the fact that Fofana can only play every other game is what really limits us now. Jacquet can hopefully be just as good, be relied upon to play more often.

“Should terms for Jacquet be agreed, he will become part of Liam Rosenior’s first-team squad immediately,” Johnson writes.

“It is not a case of being loaned out elsewhere to be developed first, as has happened with some other purchases of young talents made by the club in recent years.”

Chelsea’s payment strategy for Jacquet unclear

Jeremy Jacquet in action for Rennes

For our part, we’re still very confused about how we can make the €70m+ deal happen this month without breaching our spending agreement with UEFA. It’s possible we sell a player or two, but the total fees won’t come close to that.

Perhaps a very complex payment plan with Rennes is being worked out, and that’s what’s dragging on.

In other news…

Chelsea are looking for a defender this month, meanwhile a player they had on their books for free has just joined Man City. It’s a painful reminder of some of our bad decisions in the past.

Thierry Henry was on Monday Night Football last night, where he noted some of Liam Rosenior’s quirks from his time in France.