{"id":17700,"date":"2026-07-15T19:15:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T19:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=17700"},"modified":"2026-07-15T19:15:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T19:15:31","slug":"chelsea-re-enter-race-for-roma-midfielder-manu-kone-read-chelsea-f-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=17700","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea re-enter race for Roma midfielder Manu Kon\u00e9 &#8211; Read Chelsea F.C."},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Chelsea have reportedly revived their interest in Roma midfielder Manu Kon\u00e9 and could rival Manchester United for the France international.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Blues have recently held discussions with Roma over Alejandro Garnacho and Diego Moreira. Those talks are said to have opened the door for Kon\u00e9\u2019s name to return to Chelsea\u2019s transfer plans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sport Witness, relaying reports from Italy, claims initial conversations have taken place and could intensify soon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Manchester United are also interested but have yet to submit a formal bid. Chelsea previously tracked Kon\u00e9 when Roma needed to raise funds to meet financial regulations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reports differ over Roma\u2019s asking price. Sport Witness places the starting point at \u20ac50m, while Corriere dello Sport claims the Italian club now want at least \u20ac60m following his performances for France at the World Cup.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8 NEW: Chelsea have re-entered the race to sign Manu Kone, potentially disrupting Manchester United\u2019s interest in the player. Chelsea could now emerge as favourites following discussions with Roma over Alejandro Garnacho. <\/p>\n<p>Those talks also clarified Chelsea\u2019s stance on Diego\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/onWoztUSec\">pic.twitter.com\/onWoztUSec<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 UtdXclusive (@UtdXclusive) July 15, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Kon\u00e9 could replace lost Chelsea midfield depth<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kon\u00e9 would add power, ball-carrying ability and defensive intensity to Xabi Alonso\u2019s midfield.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 25-year-old can play alongside Mois\u00e9s Caicedo or operate in a deeper role when Chelsea need greater control. His arrival could also offset the loss of Andrey Santos, who has completed a permanent move to Manchester United.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Read Chelsea reported after Santos\u2019 departure, the Brazilian\u2019s sale leaves Alonso with one fewer senior midfield option before the new season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Roma may be willing to consider a sale because Kon\u00e9 would produce a significant profit and fund attacking additions. However, their recent rejection of a \u20ac40m offer from Atletico Madrid shows Chelsea would need to make a substantial proposal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The discussions involving Garnacho and Moreira could help relations between the clubs, but any transfers would be structured as separate deals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chelsea\u2019s interest remains at an early stage. Kon\u00e9 has returned to their shortlist, although no formal offer or agreement has yet been reported.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chelsea have reportedly revived their interest in Roma midfielder Manu Kon\u00e9 and could rival Manchester&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}