\u00a9 IMAGO – Manu Kone, Roma<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nManu Kone to replace Enzo Fernandez at Chelsea?<\/h2>\n
Chelsea\u2019s reported interest in Kone comes amid significant rumours that Enzo Fernandez could leave Stamford Bridge before the end of the summer transfer window.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s understood that Fernandez is eager to explore his options after the World Cup, with Real Madrid his preferred destination, but Chelsea have set an asking price of \u20ac140m and this is a major deterrent for most clubs across world football.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Alonso has confirmed that he wants to work with Fernandez next season, despite the Argentine\u2019s desire to leave west London following Chelsea\u2019s 10th-placed finish last term.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, we have spoken but as you can understand what we have spoken remains private,\u201d Alonso told reporters during his first press conference as Chelsea manager on Monday.<\/p>\n
When pressed on whether he wants to keep Fernandez at the club, Alonso simply replied: \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fernandez still has six years remaining on his current contract at Stamford Bridge, and Chelsea\u2019s interest in Kone is likely in response to the decision to sell Andrey Santos to Man Utd in a deal that could reach \u20ac58m if add-ons are triggered.<\/p>\n
Related stories:<\/h2>\n
Fabrizio Romano Transfer News: Chelsea defender hunt, Man Utd eye quick deal, Barcola latest<\/b><\/p>\n
Transfer Rumours: Michael Olise approves move as Arsenal prepare bid<\/b><\/p>\n
Premier League summer transfers 2026: All the Done Deals<\/b><\/p>\nThe FootballTransfers app<\/h2>\n
Check out FootballTransfers’ new app for all of football’s big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.<\/p>\n
The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:<\/p>\n
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16 Jul 2026 08:04 BST | 4 min read \u00a9 IMAGO Cameron Smith | Digital…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17858","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\/17858","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=17858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}