Chelsea’s gossip Inception, £70m winger deja vu, and Man City plot Stamford Bridge raid

Chelsea, Chelsea Chelsea... Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea... Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea... Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea... No, it’s not the hottest new chant in The Shed End, but rather the theme of today’s Premier League transfer rumour round-up.

It doesn’t take a clairvoyant rocket scientist to predict that the Blues will be busy this summer. Todd Boehly spends like a toddler who has figured out how to make in-app purchases on their parent’s iPhone, and while problems in the Stamford Bridge dressing room persist, you get the impression that his only notion of how to fix them involves a dash of reckless abandon and an over-sized novelty chequebook.

With that in mind, let’s get to it...

Poch wants Mount to stay

We’re so far through the looking glass with Chelsea that the gossip columns have started reporting on rumours presupposed on other rumours. It’s gossip-ception out here. According to the Daily Mail, Mauricio Pochettino, who is expected to become Chelsea manager in the coming weeks, is expected to lobby for Mason Mount to stay at the club despite the current uncertainty surrounding his future in West London.

Mount is entering the final 12 months of his contract at Stamford Bridge, and with no concrete sign of an extension on the horizon, has been attracting interest from the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool. Poch wants to put an end to that, apparently, and believes that the midfielder can be an integral part of his plans going forward.

The 3AM Verdict: I mean, if there is a way for Chelsea to keep Mount and to get the best out of him tactically, then yeah, do it. The England international has not been at his best for some time, but then again, who in a Chelsea shirt can say they have? A new manager with a new perspective and a new injection of faith could be just what he needs to rekindle his spark.

Raphinha on Blues radar

This time last year, Raphinha nearly became a Chelsea player. He did not. Instead, he signed for Barcelona and helped them to a thoroughly dominant La Liga campaign that looks almost destined to end in a title win. This time this year, however - or ‘now’, as the kids are calling it - the Brazilian winger is back on the Blues’ radar. And if reports in Spain are to be believed, things are progressing nicely.

A bid is said to be underway, with Barca eager to offload Raphinha in an effort to balance their books amid ongoing issues with their finances. The Catalan giants are hoping to bring in around £70 million for the South American.

The 3AM Verdict: Look, we all know what Raphinha can do in the Premier League. The winger was a standout for Leeds United during his time at Elland Road, and he has only grown and improved since then. Would he bring something to this Chelsea side? Probably, yeah. That being said, if there’s one thing Chelsea have an abundance of already, it is wide attacking players. Provided his arrival comes in conjunction with a couple of high profile exits, this could be very smart.

Man City keen on Kovacic

And finally, on the topic of departures, Manchester City are said to be ready to turn their full attention to Mateo Kovacic after seemingly missing out on Jude Bellingham this summer. That’s according to Football Insider, who claim that Pep Guardiola is a big fan of the Croatian.

Kovacic has just one year left on his contract at Stamford Bridge, and has had his minutes limited this season by both injuries and an influx of new signings.

The 3AM Verdict: As a general rule of thumb, if Pep rates a player, he’s usually pretty okay. Kovacic probably hasn’t played as much as he would have liked this season, but there is definitely an influential presence in there, and it would be fairly foolish for Chelsea to just hand him over to a side that they will hope they can be mixing with next season - that said, see past examples of Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, Nathan Ake, Fikayo Tomori and more for the Blues’ famously shortsighted sales policy.