Chelsea rumors: Marcus Rashford, Rafael Leão, Édouard Mendy, Ethan Ampadu latest

Marcus Rashford

Marcus Rashford’s contract situation at Manchester United has led to some speculation over his future. His current deal runs only through the end of the season, although United do have the option to extend it by another year. Rashford was incessantly linked with PSG during the final weeks of the summer transfer window, and while unsurprisingly nothing transpired there, the situation could become much more interesting next summer.

According to La Repubblica, Chelsea and Atlético Madrid are also keeping an eye on the 24-year-old’s situation. We are apparently not fazed by Rashford’s high salary demands, and may even make a move as early as January. However, the same report also notes that his representatives are currently negotiating a renewal with United, so in reality, this may (is?) just be a tactic to hasten up that process.

Rafael Leão

AC Milan managed to keep Rafael Leão away from our clutches this summer, but their chances don’t look as promising come next year.

Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness) reported last week that the Rossoneri want to extend Leão’s contract to 2027, but according to Corriere dello Sport (via the Daily Mail), they don’t want to give in to his exorbitant wage demands — especially as Leão also wants Milan to contribute towards the £14m he was ordered to pay former club Sporting Lisbon for breach of contract four years ago.

All of this could end up working in our favor, with Milan unlikely to again reject €80m for a player who will have just one year left on his contract at the end of this season.

Édouard Mendy

Alongside Mason Mount and N’Golo Kanté, Chelsea have also been working on a contract extension for Édouard Mendy. However, negotiations in his case may not be as easy as they were with Reece James. Similarly to Kanté, Mendy has rejected our opening offer, which, according to the Evening Standard, was inferior to backup goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga’s contract.

Mendy is one of the lowest earners in the squad, though it’s still unlikely that we will pay him as much as we panicked into giving Kepa. Will be interesting to see if a compromise can be reached, with three years still left on his contract and his performance-levels dropping noticeably in 2022.

Ethan Ampadu

Finally, with respect to Ethan Ampadu, Il Secolo XIX (via TMW) note that there’s a clause in his loan contract which encourages Spezia to give the 21-year-old regular minutes. The Serie A side will have to compensate Chelsea financially if Ampadu isn’t given the level of game time which was agreed in negotiations.

This is a somewhat standard clause, but given our insistence that Spezia play him in a specific position (i.e. defense), we’re clearly still taking an active role in his development, which is always nice to see.