Chelsea are on the cusp of closing an agreement for Xavi Simons.
Fresh off the back of a Club World Cup title, the Blues are finalising their squad for the coming season with a slew of attacking signings, which have included Joao Pedro, Liam Delap and Jamie Gittens in a hectic summer window.
There are likely to be outgoings over the coming weeks at Stamford Bridge but Chelsea may well look to add at least one more no.10 before the window closes.
Xavi Simons progressing on talks with Chelsea, ahead of Arsenal
With RB Leipzig missing out on the Champions League spots last term, FourFourTwo understands that the Bundesliga outfit would ideally offload a couple of major assets this summer.
Leipzig were expecting forward Benjamin Sesko to be leaving this summer, with Arsenal in advanced talks earlier on in the window but with that move having stalled, attention turns to Simons, who only joined the club permanently in January.
Sky Germany journalist Florian Plettenberg reports in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that Simons is looking to reach a verbal agreement with Chelsea, as talks continue today.
Leipzig are said to be demanding �95m for the playmaker which would exceed Virgil van Dijk's record as the most expensive Dutchman of all time with Leipzig sporting director Marcel Schafer alluding to the financial sense of signing Simons earlier this year, when he claimed, We now hold all the trump cards.
According to Plettenberg, there is hope from Chelsea's perspective that Simons, ranked at no.8 inFourFourTwo'slist ofthe best attacking midfielders in the world right now,could play as one of two no.10s, potentiall alongside Cole Palmer in Enzo Maresca's system.
Arsenal were also said to be chasing Simons but The Athletic's James McNicholas recently said claimed that Ethan Nwaneri's new contract at the Emirates Stadium has reduced the need for a player in that position.
Chelsea themselves were linked with Nwaneri before the teenager penned a new deal at the Gunners.
Simons is valued at 70m byTransfermarkt
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