Summary
Chelsea may not be able to afford a double deal for Brighton & Hove Albion star Moises Caicedo and Ajax ace Mohammed Kudus if Roberto De Zerbi's men don't lower their price for the former; however, the Blues could also be stung if Kudus ends up moving to Brighton instead of Stamford Bridge, according to journalist Paul Brown.
Could Caicedo and Kudus end up at Chelsea?
According to Football Insider, Brighton are said to be 'resigned' to losing Caicedo this window if his £100 million valuation is met between now and the close of the window.
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino is 'expecting' to get a hold of Ecuador international Caicedo by the transfer deadline and is preparing a new bid worth £90 million.
Earlier this week, Caicedo missed training as he looks to force through a move to Stamford Bridge and he was also left out of the Seagulls' pre-season friendly against Rayo Vallecano last Sunday, as per The Evening Standard.
Last month, Chelsea were mooted to be in pole position to win the race to sign Ajax attacker Kudus amid competition from Arsenal to sign the Ghana international for a reported fee of £40 million, as per The Independent.
Nevertheless, Brighton have now emerged as frontrunners to bring Kudus to the Amex Stadium and have agreed on a fee with Dutch giants Ajax for the 23-year-old, BBC Sport understand.
However, there is still no agreement over personal terms between Kudus and Brighton and Chelsea alongside Arsenal remain in the hunt to secure his signature.
Although, things are a bit more up in the air right now as Chelsea have bid for Romeo Lavia and Liverpool have bid for Caicedo, so it remains to be seen as to who will get who.
Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, journalist Brown thinks that Chelsea could be left 'furious' if they were to miss out on both Caicedo and Kudus this summer.
Brown stated: "It's a bit of a catch-22, because Chelsea wanted both players, but are they going to be able to afford them if Caicedo costs what Brighton want for him? Probably not.
"I don't think Chelsea would be entirely happy to see Kudus go to Brighton. I think they'd be mildly furious actually, if Brighton manage to hold out for the fee they want for Caicedo and then another one of their targets ends up there replacing him.
"But it's looking more and more likely that Kudus goes to Brighton and Chelsea will just have to pay the fee for Caicedo."
What now for Chelsea?
According to The Evening Standard, Chelsea are open to allowing goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga to join Bayern Munich this summer following the addition of Robert Sanchez from Brighton.
Valencia stopper Giorgi Mamardashvili and Borussia Dortmund’s Gregor Kobel have been shortlisted as potential replacements between the sticks at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea will soon make a decision on whether to pursue a move for Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic after Christopher Nkunku was ruled out for an 'extended period' due to suffering a knee issue, ESPN understand.
Deivid Washington is close to joining the Blues from Santos and is set to be farmed out on loan to their satellite club Strasbourg, alongside Lesley Oguchukwu and Angelo Gabriel who are already in the building at Stamford Bridge, according to FootballTransfers.