Title-winning midfielder becomes Chelsea's latest top transfer target — report

With a little over three weeks to go in the summer transfer window and less than a week before the first match of the new season, Chelsea are working against the clock to sort out the squad's depth issues. Led by director Marina Granovskaia, we are apparently doing as much as humanly possible to not repeat the mistakes that doomed our 2010-11 and 2015-16 Premier League title defences.

According to the London Evening Standard, Chelsea's current top target is Leicester City midfielder Danny Drinkwater. The Blues' interest was reported by Sky Sports back on July 31st and since then he has a been constant presence in the reports from sources close to the club.

Still, the biggest block on Chelsea's path towards his signing should be his contract, which runs out only in June 2021. To convince Leicester to let go of the former Manchester United prospect, who has been at the club since their years in the Championship, would require the Blues to pay over £30 million for him — only £2 million less than his former teammate and world-class midfielder N'Golo Kanté.

Kanté's good rapport with Drinkwater, who was his main midfield partner during their Premier League title-winning campaign at King Power Stadium, may play a part in convincing the Englishman to join Chelsea instead of staying at Leicester. But even in this lopsided transfer market, he is not worth of such a high transfer fee, even considering the homegrown tax.

However Chelsea need depth, especially in midfield where new signing Tiemoué Bakayoko is still recovering from an injury. The time for waffling over prices is past.