Chelsea 'optimistic about signing Frenkie de Jong'

Chelsea are reportedly confident that they can successfully negotiate a deal for Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong.

Throughout the summer transfer window, head coach Thomas Tuchel has been prioritising the additions of two centre-backs to replace Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger.

Furthermore, fresh faces in the wing-back and forward areas have also been required, with midfield seemingly last on the list of areas which require significant strengthening ahead of the new season.

However, Chelsea announced on Tuesday evening that a deal was in place to sign Carney Chukwuemeka from Aston Villa, and it appears that they are doing everything possible to trump that transfer later this month.

According to The Athletic, the West Londoners are pushing to secure a deal for De Jong, who has been strongly linked with Manchester United.

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Erik ten Hag - De Jong's former boss at Ajax - has been keen to add the Netherlands international to his midfield options at Old Trafford, aware that Barcelona are willing to sell for the right price.

Nevertheless, despite financial terms said to have been agreed several weeks ago, it has consistently been claimed that De Jong is not in favour of a transfer to the Theatre Of Dreams.

That is seemingly owing to United only participating in the Europa League in 2022-23, while it has been further reported that he would prefer to move to England's capital over Manchester.

The Athletic says that Chelsea are currently in discussions with their counterparts at Barcelona and are "optimistic" about reaching the desired resolution.

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As recently as last Friday, Barcelona president Joan Laporta insisted that the Catalan giants wanted to retain the services of the 25-year-old, despite their predicament regarding finances and squad numbers.

Speaking to reporters, Laporta said: "Frenkie is Barca player. We want him to stay, he wants to stay. We've received important bids for him but he's our player. You know salary budget situation; so we will do our best to keep Frenkie at Barca, and I hope he'll do the same."

De Jong has also stated that he wishes to remain at Camp Nou, although those comments came at a time when Chelsea were not known to have pushed any initial interest.

Chelsea and Barcelona are also believed to be in constant discussions regarding the potential transfers of Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso to the La Liga side.

As it stands, an exit for Alonso looks more likely with Chelsea said to be closing in on the signing of Brighton & Hove Albion's Marc Cucurella.