Chelsea Ready To Battle Liverpool & Tottenham Over £150m Trio

Managers are now pressing ahead with their plans for the final weeks of the summer transfer window so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip from around the globe. Today, Chelsea are planning a late spending spree in the market…

Chelsea are ready to do-battle with Liverpool and Tottenham as Antonio Conte gears up for a late spending spree in the transfer market, according to the Express.

Conte has made no secret of his desire to further strengthen his squad before the window slams shut at the end of the month as the Blues boss knows he doesn’t have enough depth to compete on all fronts this season.

The Express claim Conte is hoping to bring in up to five new signings with Southampton’s defensive trio Virgil van Dijk, Cedric Soares and Ryan Bertrand all identified as prime targets.

Van Dijk’s future at St Mary’s has been the subject of much speculation all summer but the Saints have refused to sell despite the Dutch international handing in a formal transfer request earlier this month.

Liverpool have been strongly linked with a move for the centre-back and the newspaper suggests they will provide stiff competition to Chelsea if Southampton eventually agree to cash-in on the 26-year-old.

Jurgen Klopp has been desperate to land van Dijk all summer but the Reds were forced to issue an apology after Southampton reported them to the Premier League for tapping-up the player back in June.

The former Celtic defender has been training away from the rest of the Saints squad for several weeks so it’s going to be interesting to see if Chelsea or Liverpool will be able to persuade the south coast club to sell or if they’ll force van Dijk to stay beyond the summer.

Conte is also hoping to strengthen his options in the wing-back positions and the Express claim he’s keen to land Bertrand and Soares but will face competition from Tottenham.

Bertrand began his career at Chelsea and has developed in to a fine full-back during his time with Southampton while Soares has impressed at right-back since moving to St Mary’s from Sporting Lisbon two years ago.

They would provide competition for Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses if Chelsea could lure them both to Stamford Bridge but it seems Spurs are also showing an interest in the defensive duo.

Mauricio Pochettino is expected to be extremely active during the closing stages of the window and the Spurs boss needs to bring in a right-back after losing Kyle Walker while Danny Rose’s future is in doubt and it appears Soares and Bertrand are on his radar.

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We’ll have to wait and see how things develop but the Express suggest the trio would cost Chelsea around £150m, if they are able to beat Liverpool and Tottenham to their signatures and persuade Southampton to sell.

The newspaper says Conte could end up spending close to £200m as he’s also plotting late moves for Leicester’s Danny Drinkwater and Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain so it sounds like it’s going to be a hectic few days in west London.