Athletic: Arsenal or Liverpool pressured Chelsea into early €40m move | OneFootball

At the start of this international break Chelsea rather surprised everyone by announcing deals for two incoming transfers.

This sort of thing does sometimes happen before season is over, but not usually in mid March. Simon Johnson covers the club for the Athletic, and he went on their podcast to explain why the double deal had been done early.

In the case of midfielder Dario Essugo, they wanted to lock in the signing before competition from other clubs raised the price:

“They feel there’s a lack of backup for Moises Caicedo, and they see him as someone who can provide that backup. They also move for him early because they’re aware of 5 or 6 clubs who were keen to get him as well. They didn’t want to get beaten to him,” Johnson explained.

You can see the insider speaking in the clip embedded here, with this answer coming after 2 minutes

Chelsea rate winger as on a level with the world’s best

Geovany Quenda in action against Borussia Dortmund. (Photo by Carlos Rodrigues/Getty Images)

With Geovany Quenda the story was similar – get the deal done before someone else comes in to raise the price.

“Quenda… Chelsea love wingers. This guy they see as one of the best young wingers in the world, along with Estevao Willian and Lamine Yamal. They see him as that sort of calibre of player. And again they moved for him so early because of the competition for him. Manchester United were very keen on him. There’s another club currently in the top 3 that were making strong moves to sign him, clubs in Europe too.”

Well, there is no higher praise than being compared to genuine sensation Yamal.

We’re not sure why Johnson mentions “another club currently in the top 3” and doesn’t name them. Surely it’s Arsenal or Liverpool?