Surprise TWIST in Chelsea's Brennan Johnson pursuit - Romano

Tom Weber
Tom Weber
  • Updated: 22 Aug 2023 21:53 BST
  • 4 min read
Todd Boehly
© ProShots

Fabrizio Romano has doused cold water on reports claiming that Chelsea are in talks with Nottingham Forest over the transfer of Brennan Johnson.

The Blues continue to scour the market for attacking reinforcements. Their 3-1 loss to West Ham at the weekend made it clear that the current state of Chelsea's squad is not up to scratch despite more than €800 million spent on transfers in the calendar year 2023.

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Indeed, the Blues looked set to add to their offensive ranks when they triggered Michael Olise's release clause, but the French winger decided to stay loyal to Crystal Palace and sign a new four-year deal instead. This has left Chelsea in an awkward position with just a few days left to go in the transfer window.

READ: Romano gives Chelsea wonderkid transfer update that fans will LOVE

Fabrizio Romano has revealed that people at the London club are fond of Lyon wonderkid Bradley Barcola, but Paris Saint-Germain remain the favourites to sign the 20-year-old after already tabling two offers for him. The Italian transfer expert has now given a similar verdict on Chelsea's alleged Brennan Johnson pursuit.

Brennan Johnson
© ProShots - Brennan Johnson

Chelsea not in Forest talks

According to Romano, there is nothing in the reports claiming that the Blues are negotiating for the 22-year-old Nottingham Forest attacker.

He announced to his 18.3 million Twitter followers: "Chelsea appreciate Brennan Johnson as [a] talented player but didn’t submit any bid — not negotiating to sign Brennan, as of today. Club looking at different options in that position as things stand."

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It was recently claimed that Chelsea are weighing up including Andrey Santos (on loan) as a makeweight to sweeten the deal for Johnson as Forest had begun looking at the Brazilian as a midfield option, but it seems that those rumours had little substance.

Chelsea will, however, soon complete the signing of Deivid Washington, according to Romano, though he is a very different player to the Nottingham Forest man and much less experienced, making it unlikely that he will feature prominently for the Blues this season.

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