Today, it’s Chelsea ‘in negotiations’ with Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez — report

Oh look, it’s another edition of Chelsea and James Rodriguez, match made in heaven, except not at all. The source is AS, but even more so than usual, take this one with a big giant huge — YUGE — grain of salt, just as one would yet another edition Hazard or Courtois going to Spain.

This rumor might say Chelsea, but undoubtedly there will be other big teams (say, Manchester United or PSG) linked in a similar fashion soon, if they haven’t already. There’s nothing new under the Sun, and if you made it this far I commend your resolve. If you just rolled your eyes at the headline and moved on, I don’t blame you, though obviously you won’t be reading these words of understanding and commiseration because you will not have clicked or read this far.

In any case, to entertain AS’s notion for a millisecond, they’re claiming that Chelsea are in the lead of the negotiations for James’s future, with a €70-80m transfer ready to fund Real’s purchase of Kylian Mbappé, who’s also linked with the majority of big clubs this summer. Everything’s happening! Nothing’s happening.

Chelsea were linked James in January and nothing happened. James might actually move this summer ... but to Chelsea? I highly doubt it. (It should be noted that Álvaro Morata, who’s about to sign for Manchester United, boldly (jokingly?) claimed that he and James will still be teammates next season.)