Audacious Chelsea swap offer for Barcelona gem

Chelsea made an audacious swap offer for Fermin Lopez, offering Barcelona Christopher Nkunku in exchange.

Mundo Deportivo report that the Blues offered Nkunku to Barcelona in a deal that would have seen young midfielder Fermin Lopez move the other way.

The report states that Chelsea were hopeful that the Blaugrana would accept the offer but the proposal was immediately rejected.

Fermin has been the subject of a number of transfer rumours in recent days, with Man Utd also linked to a big money move but Mundo Deportivo says that Barcelona manager Hansi Flick is a big fan of the player and won’t let him leave.

Nkunku to leave Chelsea

Nkunku has been put up for sale by Chelsea this summer after a second disappointing and injury-hit season at Stamford Bridge.

He has been linked to a number of big clubs this summer, including Bayern Munich, Man Utd and Inter Milan.

The player himself is also desperate to leave in order to join a club where he can be an important first-team player.

Nkunku has had a difficult time at Chelsea since his €62 million move from Leipzig in the summer of 2023.

Injury issues limited him to just 14 appearances during his debut campaign (only two starts).

In the 2024-25 season, he made just nine starts in the Premier League and is considered very much a rotation player at best by manager Enzo Maresca.

Despite that, Nkunku still managed a highly respectable 15 goals in all competitions, although most of these have come in the minor cups such as the Conference League and now the Club World Cup.

Football transfer news headlines today

DONE DEALS: Every official completed transfer around Europe today

Chelsea transfer faces unexpected delay as flight POSTPONED

Chelsea wonderkid hands in transfer request – Romano

Chelsea reach transfer agreement as Maresca edges closer to dream squad

‘Here We Go!’ – Fabrizio Romano confirms OFFICIAL Chelsea transfer

The FootballTransfers app

Check out FootballTransfers’ new app for all of football’s big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.

The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:

•Google Play

•App Store