Revealed: Two midfielders Chelsea tried to sign before moving for Denis Zakaria

Chelsea’s transfer deadline was nothing short of dramatic and entertaining last Thursday, which was nothing less than what we expected it to be.

We had been hearing that Chelsea wanted to bring in at least two more new signings that day, and maybe even more. It was two in the end, but there wasn’t a shortage of activity and names being linked.

It seemed like a light switched on and all of a sudden they needed to sign a new midfielder, and the drastic hunt started.

They managed to get Denis Zakaria in from Juventus on loan late in the window, but before that, they had tried for two others as well, according to Fabrizio Romano on his Substack.

“The Zakaria option arrived in the last hours of Deadline Day – there had never been any negotiations before. Juventus said yes for a potential loan with a buy option and Chelsea approved the move,” Romano said.

“Before that, Chelsea had negotiated for Ibrahim Sangare with PSV, and Edson Alvarez with Ajax, but with both cases there was no possibility of a deal.”

It was very clear that there was a bit of a scramble to get a midfielder come the final hours, and it was a bit of a panic buy. But I think Zakaria will be a good signing all the same.