Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino could sanction an exit in January for one player who hasn't played a minute of first-team football this campaign, according to reports.
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According to a Chelsea transfer update from Football Insider, RB Leipzig will reject any advances from interested parties in striker Lois Openda, who has attracted interest from the Blues, Liverpool and Manchester United.
Openda only joined the Bundesliga side in July from Lens for a fee in the region of £37.1million; however, RB Leipzig are prepared to stand defiant in the midst of attention from elsewhere regarding the 23-year-old after already losing Dominik Szoboszlai, Josko Gvardiol and Christopher Nkunku in the summer transfer window. Meanwhile, Pochettino has outlined his plans for the duration of the international break before the Premier League returns, stating to the club's official website:
"We will spend it trying to improve players, trying to recover players from injury. We have two weeks which we are going to spend working at the training ground. Of course it’s a different mood to the break last month because to go into it with a victory is much better. But we will keep pushing and working hard to try to be better next month."
In conversation with RMC Sport, Chelsea full-back Malo Gusto has given some insight into competition for places at the club, taking his own battle for a first-team slot with Reece James into account, stating: "We give each other a lot of advice, he tries to help me and I try to help him as best I can. On the pitch, it’s war, he knows it very well. We don’t necessarily do each other any favours and simply the best player will play."
Chelsea transfer update – Trevoh Chalobah
Sky Sports Germany journalist Florian Plettenberg has given a new Chelsea transfer update on Trevoh Chalobah's immediate future at the club, stating via social media platform that contact with Bayern Munich has remained since the summer and that an exit is "very likely".
"News Trevoh Chalobah: He’s still a candidate for FC Bayern! The 24 y/o remains on the list for the winter window. Chalobah is still keen to join Bayern. Ideas about a loan with an option to buy. But no concrete talks yet. It’s very likely that Chalobah will leave #CFC in winter. The contact with Bayern has never been broken since the summer."
Chalobah was also subject to a last-minute transfer bid from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer window and his future appears to be increasingly uncertain at Stamford Bridge.
TEAMtalk also reported last week that Chalobah has been told that he is free to find a new club in January and Thomas Tuchel is reportedly keen to reunite with the 24-year-old in January.
Over the course of his time at Stamford Bridge, Chalobah has registered four goals and one assist from 63 appearances for Chelsea across all competitions. (Trevoh Chalobah stats – Transfermarkt)
Nevertheless, the former England Under-21 international may have to move elsewhere to get his career back on track as he is yet to feature at all under Pochettino, making this one to watch.
