Chelsea line up Khedira, but Arsenal could turn to Sissoko

Blues to land Khedira, Talisca and Reus in the summer- but will they really pay £200m for Messi?

Sami Khedira/Real Madrid
(Image credit: Denis Doyle/Getty)

Chelsea, who will spend Christmas three points clear at the top of the Premier League table after beating Stoke 2-0 on Monday night, are already planning for next season according to the Evening Standard. The paper claims that the Blues are unlikely to make any forays into January's transfer market but that doesn't mean boss Jose Mourinho is resting on his laurels and he could get the ball rolling by torpedoing the hopes of Arsenal fans next month.

Top of his list of summer targets is Sami Khedira, who Mourinho knows well from his three years at Real Madrid. The German midfielder is a free agent at the end of the season and that means he can talk to other clubs in January. The Standard says Chelsea intend to see off competition from Bayern Munich and Arsenal by offering the World Cup winner a pre-contract next month.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Bill Mann is a football correspondent for The Week.co.uk, scouring the world's football press daily for the popular Transfer Talk column.