Chelsea Held Off On Signing Midfield Transfer Targets For These Reasons: Report

Chelsea decided not to push hard for midfield targets Declan Rice of West Ham and Aurelien Tchouameni of AS Monaco this summer for different reasons, a report has said.

Despite both soccer stars being on their target list, the English Premier League top-flight club was “nowhere close” to signing either player during the summer transfer window, The Athletic’s Simon Johnson reported.

According to the report, West Ham United’s £100 million ($138.6 million) valuation of Rice was simply too much for Chelsea to pay this summer ⁠— something that allegedly made the 22-year-old unhappy, The Telegraph earlier reported. The Blues are reportedly eyeing a move for Rice next year.

As for AS Monaco’s Tchouameni, Vayam Lahoti of Sports Illustrated's Absolute Chelsea noted that fans were a bit more hopeful that Chelsea would be able to pry him away from the Italian side, but management decided otherwise.

The French player is only 21 years old but has shown enough promise to garner interest from the club. However, Blues management reportedly thought that he would be better off developing in Ligue 1 for another season before attempting to bring him over to the Premier League, according to Johnson.

The Stamford Bridge side was named in multiple transfer rumors this summer, including those involving Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland, but even that fell through as the German club had already lost Jadon Sancho to Manchester United.

Despite that, Chelsea was still able to significantly upgrade its lineup by signing Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan on a permanent deal and Saul Niguez on loan from Atletico Madrid. Chelsea has the option to sign Niguez to a permanent transfer after his loan deal expires next summer.

Meanwhile, Lukaku has been a major part of the Blues' early success in the new English Premier League season, with the club yet to experience a loss so far.

Fifteen minutes into his second debut with Chelsea, the Belgian striker scored his first goal of the season off a cross from Reece James, leading the club to a 2-0 win over Arsenal.

Thomas Tuchel’s side may not have been able to sign Rice and Tchouameni this summer, but having Lukaku and Niguez on the field certainly increased their chances of winning a Premier League title.