Chelsea jump to top of the queue for Jean Michaël Seri — report

With the Premier League transfer window opening on Thursday, the stories are starting to heat up. Often, no sooner has one story emerged, than another pops-up to seemingly contradict it — 24 hours can be an eternity when the rumor truly mill gets going.

Take Jean Michaël Seri. Just yesterday the story was that Arsenal were leading the race to sign the in-demand Nice midfielder. At 26, he’s in his prime, has assembled three straight impressive seasons, has a reasonable £35 million buyout and is reportedly being sought by all of the Premier League’s top six clubs. The reason given for him supposedly preferring Arsenal is that the man who now does the signing for the Gunners, Raul Sanllehi, worked for Barcelona when they flirted with Seri last summer.

But that story is sooo yesterday!

Today’s hot news — equally authentic, we’re sure — is that of the English suitors, Seri finds two the loveliest of them all. That would be Chelsea and Manchester City. City, because of Pep and Champions League football. Us? No reason given, actually.

Let’s just assume it’s because Chelsea are awesome, as it was the case when we won the heart of N’Golo Kanté instead of his dozens of suitors after winning the Premier League title almost all by himself two years ago. Or, possibly, that our cycle is primed to win the league again. Or that he likes royal blue. Who knows; it’s just a rumor.

The Côte d’Ivoire international, who was named to the Ligue 1 team of the season, seems likely to figure prominently in this summer’s parade of transfer claims. Then again, he was last season too, and ended-up right back where he started, at Nice.

Maybe this changes this summer. Maybe it doesn’t, as Seri may not want to risk getting his toes cold when facing London or Manchester weather. Either way, we’ll be watching because Seri is seri-ously good (please direct all inquiries regarding that pun to the editor).