Chelsea ‘rule out’ signing Neymar, Kylian Mbappé — report

Christopher Nkunku’s (expected) injury layoff, the extent of which is still unknown at this point, has opened the door for some wild transfer speculation over the past 24 hours, including such gems as Chelsea bringing back João Félix for another loan (because the first one was such a rousing success obviously) or Chelsea spending untold millions on more attacking players, such as Michael Olise, Mohammed Kudus, or, and this is the really fun one, Neymar (not-so-)Jr(-anymore).

Reports in France talk of PSG still wanting to part ways with Neymar, especially as Lionel Messi has already left and Kylian Mbappé is expected to do so as well. No more M-N-Ms for the good people of Paris! Smarties are better anyway.

But while Neymar seems to prefer a return to Barcelona, the Premier League is where the money’s at (well, other than the Saudi Pro League of course), and staying in Europe is the player’s preference.

Those reports claim that talks have been going on between Chelsea and Neymar, but according to the Evening Standard, that’s a whole lot of nonsense as Chelsea have already “ruled out” this possibility. Neymar doesn’t fit our current market m.o., nor our wage structure. (See also: Kylian Mbappé, adds the report, sadly.) Mauricio Pochettino himself is said to have agreed that this idea is a “non-starter”, despite working together successfully and fruitfully with Neymar at PSG for a decent while.

Oh well. Next! (Or maybe no “next” and we just absorb the Nkunku absence for a little while.)