Chelsea's recent problems to sign players have not gone overlooked by the team's hierarchy, and they have reportedly identified Barcelona as the culprit of those failures.
With that in mind, the club is ready to get some "payback" against Los Culés in the ongoing transfer window, even if that means not to hire more players in defense.
According to a report by the Daily Mail, the English side has taken Barcelona's approach to hire Jules Koundé and Raphinha as insulting, since the Blues had agreed terms with both players before Los Culés came in and swooped them away from their reach. Now, the English club will execute their "vengeance" by refusing to sell two of their own players to the Spanish club.
The names in question are César Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso. Reports in Spain state that both footballers had agreed terms to join Barcelona this summer, but the problem with those moves is that both of them are still under contract. Now, with Barcelona's tactics to lure players away, Chelsea are ready to dismiss any offers for both players, even if they have already vowed to make the trip to Catalunya.
The Blues' captain has reportedly voiced his discomfort about this decision with coach Thomas Tuchel, who spoke out on this issue last week when asked about how Barcelona had hijacked Koundé's deal regardless of their efforts to sign the player.
"I don't think so much about other clubs as I think about us. The full focus is on us and what we need and what we have in Apzi. I said to him many times that I can understand him on a personal level and career level. I can understand his point of view. But I am not only in this role to give him what he wants, I am also manager for Chelsea and have to do what is best for Chelsea," Tuchel said on Friday.
Apparently, Chelsea are ready to play hardball against Barcelona after failing to hire two of their transfer targets. Let's see what time has in store for us regarding this tug of war between two European giants.
