CHELSEA are lining up a stunning double swoop for centre-backs Jules Kounde and Matthijs de Ligt, according to reports.
The West London club is now allowed to resume business after having transfer activity halted by Roman Abramovich’s sanctions.
The Blues are looking to back boss Thomas Tuchel in the transfer market under new owner Todd Boehly with defence being a key area needing strengthening.
Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen will leave the club for free at the end of the month when their deals expire.
Club captain Cesar Azpilicueta, as well as Marcos Alonso, are attracting interest from Spain.
That leaves Chelsea needing two or more defenders in the summer transfer market.
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And according to talkSPORT, the Blues are lining up a double swoop for Sevilla's Kounde and Juventus' De Ligt.
Alex Crook said: "Sources in Italy are suggesting that Chelsea are interested in Matthijs de Ligt at Juventus.
“I think that Jules Kounde is their top target, I would expect that to happen, but they probably do need more than one.”
To help fund moves in other areas of the pitch, SunSport revealed Inter Milan's hope to strike a salary-sharing deal with Chelsea to take Romelu Lukaku back to Italy.
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Inter are ready to cough up just over a third of Lukaku’s roughly £325,000-a-week pay.
They pulled off a similar coup when signing striker Alexis Sanchez on loan from Manchester United two years ago and he is now there permanently.
Cutting a deal would leave Chelsea still shelling out around £200,000 a week.
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