Barcelona’s board and Chelsea owner Todd Boehly sat down to dinner on Thursday evening and that should have sped up negotiations between the two clubs, but the Blaugrana came away from the Via Veneto restaurant assuming a delay in the market plans.
The two names that were on the table for Barcelona are well documented targets: Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso. While reports emerged earlier in that day that Frenkie de Jong could be a surprise target for Thomas Tuchel’s side.
The news coming out of Barcelona, specifically Mundo Deportivo, is that Barcelona have accepted that both of their Spanish defenders will depart the club and join Andreas Christensen in Barcelona.
However they will only do so once Chelsea have found replacements. That puts a significant delay on the transfers and both Alonso and Azpilicueta are now assuming that they will be going on Chelsea’s preseason tour to the USA.
This news will no doubt frustrate Xavi Hernandez most of all. The Catalan manager is overseeing his first preseason in charge at Barcelona and will no doubt have been keen to have as many of his squad for next season in training, as he tries to drill down his system.
