Chelsea are in advanced talks to sign Nathan Ake, following the acceleration of talks with Manchester City this week.
Thomas Tuchel is optimistic about completing a deal for the Dutchman, whom Chelsea sold to Bournemouth for £20 million in the summer of 2017, with City's valuation of around £41 million not expected to be an issue.
Raheem Sterling is also on the verge of joining Chelsea and will become the club's first marquee signing of the new era.
The England forward has agreed to a small raise in his weekly wage of £300,000 and is expected to join the club for their pre-season tour of the United States.
Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali met with Barcelona representatives in Barcelona on Thursday night, where the La Liga club is thought to have encouraged a bid for midfielder Frenkie De Jong.
Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag is eager to reunite with a player he helped develop into a star while at Ajax, but the club has yet to make a breakthrough.
Chelsea will fly to Las Vegas on July 9 for preseason games against Club America, Charlotte FC, and Arsenal in Orlando.
The Blues have prioritized signing central defenders this summer because they need to rebuild their defense after losing Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen on free transfers.
Chelsea have identified Matthijs De Ligt as a top defensive target, but the Dutchman is thought to prefer a move to Bayern Munich.
Chelsea remain the favourites to sign Raphinha, while Leeds are still awaiting a bid from Barcelona.
The Blues have almost reached an agreement in principle with Leeds to sign Raphinha and are willing to triple his wages with a contract worth around £120,000 per week.
The 25-year-old is thought to prefer a move to Barcelona, but their plans have stalled due to a lack of funds.
With no suitable offer from Barcelona, Raphinha's future is expected to be decided this week.
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Jules Koundé, a French central defender, is determined to join the first major club to reach an agreement with Sevilla. The footballer has no plans to wait for FC Barcelona to pull new economic levers.
"I'll stick to my policy of not discussing players. We will not include more players until we have the second lever, which is 15% of television rights. That is the general rule, but some exceptions may exist." Yesterday, during the presentation of the Danish Andreas Christensen, FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta confirmed that the Catalan club will be unable to sign any more players until their income improves.
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