Aston Villa are reportedly plotting moves for two players from Chelsea in a bid to strengthen their squad for this season.

According to the Daily Mail, Villa want to bolster their squad in central midfield and the Chelsea duo of Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have been targeted.

It was revealed that Aston Villa want a loan deal for either of the two England internationals who have found it hard to feature in the Chelsea XI this season.

Aston Villa have spent over £70m this summer in addition to the £140m spent on new players last summer as the club barely stayed up on the final day of last season.

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The former European champions have signed goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez in a £20m deal this season, while the duo of Matty Cash and Ollie Watkins have joined from Nottingham Forest and Brentford respectively.

Watkins has signed for Villa in a club-record deal worth an initial fee of £28m and the club is keen to add either Barkley or Loftus-Cheek.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek is yet to feature for Chelsea since being substituted during half-time of the opening game at Brighton which the Blues won 3-1.

On his part, Ross Barkley was on the scoresheet as Chelsea beat Barnsley 6-0 in their Carabao Cup third round on Wednesday night.

North London outfit are keen on bringing in a midfielder with manager Mikel Arteta having his attention on Ghanaian midfielder Thomas Partey from Spanish La Liga outfit Atletico Madrid.

It has been a stressful wait to land a midfielder as the Gunners are unwilling to meet the valuation of the Atletico Madrid player due to the lack of funds. Efforts to reduce the financial burden of £45 million by including a player in the deal have been rejected by the Spanish La Liga outfit.

However, it is now reported that the Gunners are considering moving in for Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante as an alternative for Thomas Partey with Daily Express reporting that the two London clubs are in talks.

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Should an agreement be reached between the two London clubs, the North London outfit will be sending Matteo Guendouzi to west London but the Gunners will have to add some cash to make the deal work through.

While this report cannot be confirmed, the North London club have confirmed that they are actively in the summer transfer market and are hoping to bring in new legs before it is shut down.

The Arsenal outcast has been offered to Atletico Madrid in a proposed swap deal for Thomas Partey but it was rejected.

Merseyside giants Everton have shifted their attention to £22.5m Barcelona defender Jean-Clair Todibo after the move to sign Fikayo Tomori from Chelsea stalled.

The Toffees were thought to be closing in on a loan deal for Chelsea centre back Tomori earlier this month but that transfer has stalled in the past days paving the way for the club to pursue other defensive targets.

Fikayo Tomori is now expected to stay at Chelsea to fight for his place in the team. The Nigerian-born England international came on as a second half substitute over the weekend as his team suffered their first league defeat of the season.

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Tomori and Chelsea were beaten 2-0 at home by Liverpool who had a man advantage for the larger part of the game after Danish international Fikayo Tomori was sent off towards the end of the first half.

Kai Havertz was sacrificed as Fikayo Tomori replaced the new signing to fill the centre back vacuum left by Andreas Christensen.

Everton are desperate to sign a new central defender in this transfer window and 20-year-old Todibo is the new target though the Merseysiders will have to contend with Wolves who are also interested in the young French player.

Chelsea are set to receive a big transfer boost after reports claimed that French champions Paris Saint Germain (PSG) have initiated talks in order to sign midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko in a deal that could be around £41m.

As per the reports from French publication Le 10 Sport, the Champions League finalists are eyeing a move for the Frenchman.

Tiemoue Bakayoko has spent the last two seasons away from parent club Chelsea, and he’s not in manager Frank Lampard’s plans for this season.

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He spent the penultimate season on loan at Italian Serie A outfit AC Milan before being farmed out on loan to French club AS Monaco last term.

French Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint Germain (PSG) want to sign a new central midfielder this summer, and Tiemoue Bakayoko is the man they have turned to.

PSG tried to sign Sergej Milinkovic-Savic from Italian team Lazio earlier this summer before they were prized out of a move for the Serbian international and that has prompted the club to turn to the aforementioned Bakayoko.

The new transfer development is a big boost to Chelsea who could use the funds from the transfer for top midfield target Declan Rice of West Ham United.

Chelsea will need £73m to sign former player Rice from the Hammers and Bakayoko’s potential transfer to PSG could provide part of the money.

Real Madrid striker Luka Jovic rejected the chance to join Chelsea earlier this summer as he opted to stay at the Estadio Santiago Bernebeu.

Spanish newspaper AS confirmed that the Serbian international turned down clubs like Italian Serie A giants AC Milan, AS Monaco, Chelsea and Napoli in favour of staying at Real Madrid.

The 22-year-old has been a flop at Real Madrid after his first season.

He signed for the 13-time European champions from German Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt in a £60m deal.

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Luka Jovic scored twice in 27 appearances for Real Madrid last season though the striker still ended the season with the Spanish La Liga title.

He has a goal contribution of 0.16 per game at Real Madrid and this is in stark contrast to his good form at Eintracht Frankfurt where he averaged 0.60 per game.

Chelsea turned their attention to Timo Werner after the decision from Luka Jovic.

Werner was signed by the Blues in a £53m deal and the German international has played two games for his new team on the competitive form.

He made his debut for Chelsea in the Premier League earlier this month in a 3-1 win at Brighton.

Timo Werner won a penalty during the game.

Atletico Madrid striker Alvaro Morata is closing in on a return to Italian champions Juventus on a loan deal.

The former Chelsea striker is already in Turin as confirmed by the Italians.

Morata is expected to sign for Juventus on loan for €9m with the option to sign permanently for €45m.

The Spanish international is in Juventus for his second spell after spending two years with the Serie A giants between 2014 and 2016.

Alvaro Morata returned to parent club from Real Madrid after he had scored 27 goals in 93 appearances during his two-year loan stay in Turin.

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The 27-year-old won the Spanish La Liga title on his return to Real Madrid before the striker signed for Chelsea for a then club-record fee of around £60m.

The player didn’t have the best of times at Stamford Bridge prompting him to leave the Blues after 18 months.

Alvaro Morata initially signed for the Blues on loan before his transfer was made permanent towards the start of last summer.

He scored 12 goals in 34 appearances for Atletico Madrid in the Spanish La Liga in his first full season at the club.

Barcelona striker Luis Suarez is expected to replace him at Atletico Madrid.

The 33-year-old is surplus to requirements at Barcelona following the arrival of manager Ronald Koeman.

Chelsea are increasingly confident that they can sign Declan Rice from London rivals West Ham United before the end of this summer’s transfer window.

Journalist Simon Johnson of The Athletic revealed that the Blues want to re-sign the England international wants to sign the player valued £44.55m by Transfermarkt but they have been put off by the £80m asking price slammed on him by the Hammers.

Chelsea have spent over £200m in the current transfer window and that fee is expected to increase with the imminent arrival of Edouard Mendy this week.

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The Senegalese international goalkeeper will be officially announced later this week after the Blues agreed a deal with his French club Rennes.

Declan Rice was on the payroll at Chelsea before the Hammers midfield man was let go by the club when he was just 14.

He has shown strong mental capacity as the West Ham United player was able to recover from that setback.

Rice is now one of the first names on the West Ham United team sheet having come through their youth team.

Earlier reports this summer stated that Chelsea could fund a move for Rice with the sale of N’Golo Kante, a transfet target for Inter Milan.

Various reports had said that West London giants Chelsea have finally reached an agreement to sign Senegalese international goalkeeper Edouard Mendy from his French team Rennes and popular journalist Fabrizio Romano has backed those reports.

According to the Italian journalist, Rennes and Chelsea have found an agreement for Mendy and that the Blues will announce his transfer from Rennes officially later this week especially on the back of the howler made by Kepa Arrizabalaga at the weekend.

Spanish shot stopper Kepa was highly culpable as his pass was stopped by Liverpool attacker Sadio Mane who found the back of the net afterwards to double his tally and also give the Reds their second goal.

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Mane had earlier opened the scoring against 10-man Chelsea who had Danish centre back Andreas Christensen for a professional foul on Mane.

Apart from the error, Kepa Arrizabalaga had a good game but that won’t stopped Chelsea from signing Edouard Mendy after they agreed a €24m transfer for him.

The transfer was delayed reportedly because Rennes wanted a Chelsea player as part of the deal. The French club had asked for either Olivier Giroud or Fikayo Tomori but neither player will be moving to the club as part of the Edouard Mendy transfer.