Chelsea watched one of their transfer targets join Tottenham Hotspur earlier this month and could witness the same thing happen again before the window closes.
Chelsea wanted to sign Mohammed Kudus while the attacker was still at West Ham United.
Instead of Stamford Bridge, though, Kudus ended up at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Spurs agreeing a £55m deal with West Ham to sign the 24-year-old.
Another Premier League star could now be about to follow Kudus to north London despite interest from Chelsea.
Tottenham ready to pay £60m for Illia Zabarnyi
In May, it was claimed that Bournemouth were reluctant to sell Illia Zabarnyi amid interest from Chelsea.
However, according to CaughtOffside, the Cherries have placed a valuation of around €70m (£60m) on the central defender and Tottenham are willing to meet it.
The same outlet says that Zabarnyi is on Chelsea’s shortlist but did not state whether the Club World Cup winners are also willing to pay that price.
It means that Spurs could beat Chelsea to Zabarnyi’s signature, just as they did with Kudus. Enzo Maresca is not exactly light in the centre-half position, though.
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The Chelsea manager currently has Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Tosin Adarabioyo and Benoit Badiashile to call on.
Why Chelsea missed out on Mohammed Kudus
Kudus is a very versatile attacker with Premier League experience, so it is not hard to understand why Chelsea wanted him.
Even so, Chelsea reportedly cooled their interest in Kudus after learning that the Ghana international wanted to play centrally.
With Cole Palmer being the team’s first-choice No.10, it was obviously not something that the club could guarantee him.
Ultimately, from Kudus’ perspective, joining Spurs may work out better for him. At Chelsea, he would have been competing against Palmer, Jamie Gittens, Pedro Neto and Estevao Willian for a place in Maresca’s starting XI.
It will now be interesting to see whether Zabarnyi makes the same move this summer.