Man Utd, Arsenal and Tottenham offered Chelsea star after £60m transfer

Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham have been offered a Chelsea player after the Blues agreed a £60m deal for Joao Pedro.

Chelsea’s eye-watering spending looks set to continue this summer with Todd Boehly already splashing over £100m on new signings.

The Stamford Bridge club activated Liam Delap’s £30m release clause and have agreed to pay Brighton £60m for Brazilian forward Pedro.

Newcastle were also keen to sign Pedro, who has scored 30 goals over the past two seasons, and saw a £50m offer rejected by Brighton.

Brighton also rebuffed Chelsea’s first offer before agreeing to sell Pedro for an initial £55m, with another £5m in add-ons.

Chelsea, meanwhile, have agreed a £55m deal for Borussia Dortmund winger Jamie Gittens, who had a brief spell at Stamford Bridge as a youth player.

Following a flurry of signings, Chelsea are now expected to turn their attentions to the difficult talk of player sales, with around a dozen players set to be offloaded.

The signings of Pedro and Gittens, two dynamic forwards, will accelerate Christopher Nkunku’s exit following his largely disappointing spell in west London.

Signed for £52m in 2023, the former Bundesliga player of the year has scored just six goals in 36 Premier League games and was left out of several of Enzo Maresca’s matchday squads last season.

Nkunku did score in Chelsea’s Club World Cup last-16 win over Benfica on Saturday but has nevertheless been made available to other clubs including Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham.

United held talks with Nkunku’s camp last month as they look to bolster Ruben Amorim’s struggling squad, though they have since confirmed the signing of Matheus Cunha and are working on a deal for Bryan Mbeumo.

Arsenal reportedly made a transfer approach for Nkunku earlier in the year and are yet to strengthen Mikel Arteta’s attacking options.

Arteta is keen to add more firepower to his squad at the Emirates Stadium after agreeing deals for midfielders Martin Zubimendi and Christian Norgaard and goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Tottenham, meanwhile, were in talks with Nkunku just last month and Thomas Frank could sanction a deal as he looks set to miss out on his former Brentford forward Mbeumo to Man United.

Nkunku is believed to be keen on a return to Germany but it remains to be seen whether Bayern Munich will revive their interest after considering a move in January.

Given Nkunku’s bleak first-team prospects at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea are ready to take a loss on the Frenchman but are still hoping to raise around £35m from his sale.

Like several of his future teammates, Chelsea’s imminent £60m signing Pedro is expected to sign a lengthy seven-year deal with the club.

The 23-year-old former Watford striker is set to join up with Maresca’s squad in the United States and could even feature in the Club World Cup as Chelsea prepare to face Palmeiras in the quarter-finals and potentially Premier League rivals Manchester City in the semis.

Gittens will not be eligible to feature for the Blues, however, as he has already featured for Dortmund in the tournament.

The England U21 winger has been signed as a replacement for Jason Sancho, who Chelsea sent back to Manchester United, agreeing to pay a £5m penalty in the process.

In terms of other player sales, Chelsea are hoping to offload Joao Felix, Raheem Sterling, Armando Broja, who were all left out of the Club World Cup squad.

The Blues are even open to offers for first-team regular Noni Madueke, while Nicolas Jackson has been tentatively linked with Arsenal since Delap moved to Chelsea.

Maresca is hoping to build on an encouraging first season at Stamford Bridge in which Chelsea qualified for the Champions League and won the Conference League.

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