{"id":3625,"date":"2026-05-04T00:49:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T00:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=3625"},"modified":"2026-05-04T00:49:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T00:49:05","slug":"chelsea-plan-shock-swoop-for-sporting-cp-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=3625","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea plan shock swoop for Sporting CP star"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"content\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/NewsArticle\">\n<!-- google_ad_section_start --><\/p>\n<h6>News<span> \u00bb <\/span>Premier League news<span> \u00bb <\/span>Chelsea news<\/h6>\n<p class=\"articletimestamp\">May 3, 2026 20:39 GMT (UK), by <!-- Author Start -->Sri Aswin<!-- Author End -->\n<\/p>\n<h6>View Chelsea summer 2026 transfer targets<\/h6>\n<div style=\"float:right\">\n<figure>\n<p class=\"article_image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eyefootball.com\/imghold\/largestMaxiAraujo.jpg\" title=\"Maxi Araujo news\" alt=\"Maxi Araujo news\" itemprop=\"image\"\/><\/p><figcaption><em itemprop=\"articleSection\">Araujo to Chelsea?<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><span itemprop=\"articleBody\"><br \/>\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-size:16px\">\n<strong>Chelsea are weighing up a surprise move for Sporting CP left-back <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Maxi Araujo<\/span><\/span>  ahead of the summer transfer window, according to Caught Offside.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><!-- responsive_ad --><\/p>\n<p>The Blues are planning multiple signings this summer, and reports claim that they could pursue another left-back. Araujo has emerged as a top target amid his superb progress with Sporting CP over the past few years.<\/p>\n<p>The 26-year-old is an attacking full-back, and he has already made 10 contributions this term for Sporting CP. Araujo has also impressed defensively, winning five duels and two tackles per appearance.<\/p>\n<p>He has also excelled with an average of four recoveries and could make the step up from Sporting CP later this year. Chelsea are keen on landing him and may have to pay at least\u00a0\u00a345m to prise him away.<\/p>\n<p>Manchester United have also been linked with the former Toluca man. The Red Devils could see him as a deputy and competitor to <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Luke Shaw<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea, on the other hand, may want him as an understudy to <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Marc Cucurella<\/span><\/span>. He could compete with <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Jorrel Hato<\/span><\/span>  for rotational minutes.<br \/><!-- Article End --><\/p>\n<p><!-- google_ad_section_end --><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- newadv --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>(function(d, s, id) {\nvar js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)(0);\nif (d.getElementById(id)) return;\njs = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\njs.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\";\nfjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News \u00bb Premier League news \u00bb Chelsea news May 3, 2026 20:39 GMT (UK), by&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3625","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\/3625","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=3625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}