Chelsea have more than one path to acquiring Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Barcelona, CBS reporter Ben Jacobs told Football Transfers exclusively.
Chelsea are in the market for a new striker after allowing Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner to return to Inter Milan and RB Leipzig respectively this summer, and Barcelona are ready to offload Aubameyang after Bayern Munich paid Robert Lewandowski €50m.
Barcelona have already beaten Chelsea against Lewandowski, Ravenha and Jules Conde this summer, while opting for Andreas Christensen in a free game from Stamford Bridge, but they kept the interest of Blues left-back Marcos Alonso.
Speaking exclusively to Football Transfers, CBS Specialist Jacobs said:
“So I think Manchester United still want a striker, and that’s because they are probably preparing for some late performances for Ronaldo and they have some injuries as well. Aubameyang snuck into the conversation.
“I don’t think Manchester United are likely candidates for Aubameyang because his preference is either to stay at Barcelona or move to Chelsea, and Chelsea have always been optimistic that the deal will eventually come to an end.
January: Arsenal pay Aubameyang £7m and £230k a week to join Barcelona for a fee of €2m.
August: Chelsea are willing to pay £20m to bring him back to the Premier League
Barcelona can pull Blinder here 😲https://t.co/sg926Unw2L
Football Transfers (Transfersdotcom) August 18 2022
“The challenge for Chelsea is to try to convince Barcelona to make a deal worth more than £15m [Marcos] Alonso, that’s actually an agreed deal. As far as finances are concerned, the only thing stopping him is Barcelona saying we’ve cooled off at the moment for Alonso and we’ll wait and see if they turn around in that situation or not, depending on the other moves as the window approaches. Close.
“Then there is a secondary offer on the table I think for just £20m, Barcelona feel they would like to have close to £24m or €30m, and it remains to be seen if Chelsea raise that price.
Jacobs: The swap deal is Plan A
“It is normal from Chelsea’s point of view because they will not make two offers like similar offers – on a swap deal and one in direct cash. They will make a barter offer at a higher value then a lower direct cash figure to try to force Barcelona to accept the swap deal.
“And then late in the window the dynamic could change and we wait and see if Chelsea have to make a direct cash offer or if Barcelona decide they want Alonso and they can score him and that’s cat and mouse and the tactical negotiations you get at this point in the window.
“And then Chelsea still have to agree terms with Aubameyang. It’s very difficult for Manchester United to come late and replace Chelsea because they don’t have the Champions League and Aubameyang has worked with Thomas Tuchel before.
Not impossible, but I kind of feel that Manchester United’s interest in Aubameyang is being spurred on at Barcelona’s end to put Chelsea under pressure to increase their cash offer because they may be worried that Manchester United will come in late.
“And then of course there’s another interesting scenario where the fans will gather two or two and say ‘well what if Manchester United get Aubameyang? Does this pave the way for Ronaldo to go to Chelsea? “And I think there is a 99 per cent chance that Ronaldo will not go to Chelsea because Thomas Tuchel’s position simply has not changed.”
