Chelsea have been accused of agreeing deals with players they don't even want
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Chelsea have been criticised for presenting a "ridiculous" offer for an agent's player in the summer transfer window.
Since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over Chelsea in May 2022, the club has spent over £1bn on transfer fees for new players.
While criticisms have been levelled at the club for overspending on signings, one agent believes Chelsea have purposely made low offers for players they don't even want to try and acquire their main target.
Caicedo is Chelsea's most expensive signing at £115m (Image credit: Getty Images)
Football agent Jen Mendelewitsch, who represents West Ham United star Mohammed Kudus, claims that the Ghanaian had initially agreed to join Chelsea in the summer. As she explains, though, Chelsea only offered Ajax £17m for Kudus - miles off of the eventual £38m he moved to the Hammers for.
"We reached an agreement with Chelsea, we agreed the contract with Chelsea but the deal was not done," Mendelewitsch told RMC Sport. "He talked with the coach but in the end it didn't happen because Chelsea made a ridiculous offer to Ajax.
“The truth is that they were completely focused on the transfer of [Moises] Caicedo which took up all their energy. There was no counter offer.
Kudus has started life at West Ham well (Image credit: Getty Images)
"Chelsea did this with lots of players this summer, making very low offers to clubs knowing that they would not be accepted."
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Kudus, who scored twice for Ghana at World Cup 2022, attracted plenty of attention from around Europe during the summer. The 23-year-old opted for David Moyes' West Ham, though, and while he is yet to start a game for the Hammers, he has impressed in his five cameo appearances, including scoring a goal against Newcastle United.
And Blues manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that the west London club have "already started to work" on January signings.
Bringing in a striker is understood to be a priority and Napoli's Victor Osimhen is one potential target, with the Nigerian's future in Italy up in the air after he was bizarrely mocked by his own club on social media recently.
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Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.
