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Gossip: Chelsea 'want Barkley, Ox and Sanches', Barcelona 'target Hazard', Man Utd 'get Bale boost'

Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sanches and Barkley all seem to be on Chelsea's shopping list
Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sanches and Barkley all seem to be on Chelsea’s shopping list

We don’t want to come over all Nigel Farage, not in any sense of the phrase, but it is kind of regrettable that the current English champions have just one solitary Englishman in their first-team squad. Since the summer departures of John Terry and Nathaniel Chalobah, Chelsea captain Gary Cahill stands alone as the sole representative of good old British spunk at Stamford Bridge.

But Antonio Conte wants to do something about it. The Sun, a newspaper that frequently comes over all Nigel Farage, reveals that the Blues manager is lining up a £50m double swoop for England international Ross Barkley and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

READ MORE: Gossip – Bales ‘rejects Arsenal’, Coutinho ‘asks to leave Liverpool’, Conte ‘wants Kane’

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Chelsea’s motives aren’t especially noble. They don’t want to help the national team, or give their side an English core that their fans can relate to – nothing like that. It’s simply because there’s a limit to the amount of foreigners a Premier League team can have – 17 to be precise – so they want to bulk up their “homegrown” numbers.

Presumably Barkley and Oxlade-Chamberlain might also get a game too, sometimes. The two 23-year-old midfielders are both entering the final year of their contracts at Everton and Arsenal respectively, and the Sun suggests that offers of £25m each could be enough to snare them both.

Neymar out, Hazard in

Alternatively, Conte might just sign another foreigner and let somebody else worry about this homegrown business. The Telegraph says the Blues have made a “late bid” to sign Portuguese midfielder Renato Sanches on loan from Bayern Munich, amid competition from AC Milan.

Chelsea might need all the creative midfielders they can get if the Express is correct in its prediction – via the Twitter account of a Spanish journalist called Carles Escolan – that Eden Hazard will become a target for Barcelona if the Catalan giants sell Neymar. Conte has already refuted that rumour though, not that that makes any difference particularly.

Eden Hazard is a target for Barcelona - apparently
Eden Hazard is a target for Barcelona – apparently

Manchester United have been given a “boost” in their pursuit of Real Madrid star Gareth Bale after manager Zinedine Zidane admitted he could not guarantee the Welshman would stay at the Bernabeu, reports the Mirror. This is approximately the 412th such “boost” received by the Red Devils regarding Bale in recent seasons. They still haven’t signed him though.

Meanwhile, Liverpool – who had reportedly given up trying to sign Naby Keita – are set to make a “final push” to sign the RB Leipzig midfielder by lodging a bid “in excess of £70m” (Mirror). If the Reds don’t get the Guinean this summer, it certainly won’t be for the want of trying.


Elsewhere, Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino intends to convert the aforementioned Ross Barkley into a central midfielder if he manages to lure him to Spurs (Times), AC Milan chairman Marco Fassone revealed that he has spoken to SUPER agent Jorge Mendes about his client Diego Costa (Sky Sports) and former Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant, now 34, is set to reject Hibernian to sign for Bostick Premier League side Billericay Town (Sun). Of all the many indignities suffered by the Scottish club in its 141-year history, this surely has to be up there.

@darlingkevin