Chelsea trying to convince Gavi to leave Barcelona for free in the summer — report

In what could the most audacious transfer coup yet by Chelsea’s new owners, we are apparently courting young Barcelona superstar Gavi over a summer move. And to make it truly audacious, it wouldn’t even cost us a penny!

The 18-year-old reigning Golden Boy and Kopa Trophy recipient — i.e. the consensus best young player in the world — could possibly be out of contract this summer (!) due to Barcelona’s continuing financial difficulties. While they pulled all the levers they could last summer, they still ran afoul of La Liga’s FFP rules, which could mean that the contract that Gavi signed in September is null and void. His previous deal, which was a youth contract, expires at the end of this season, thus there could be a timeline where the highly promising midfielder would be a free agent!

I know, and you thought Boehly at the wheel was akin to an Italian cab driver at 2am living out his rally racing dreams on the Amalfi Coast!

Diairo AS got the big scoop on this, claiming that Chelsea have “made contact” with Gavi’s representatives and are whispering sweet nothings into their collective ears. And we have certainly seen what can happen when Eghbali & Co turn on the charm! The possibility of Luis Enrique becoming our next head coach could apparently entice the kid as well, not just because of the Barcelona connection (which is a bit of a reach), but also because they share an agent (Iván de la Peña). Bazinga!

That said, since that story came out yesterday (Tuesday) morning, subsequent reports have been quick to play down this possibility. While they all admit that the club’s finances are an absolute mess, the Barca beat seem united in believing that Gavi would want to stay either way. He’s fully institutionalized, you see?

So yeah, it’s all speculative at the moment, but we may be in for another summer of constant Barca-drama. Yay?