Chelsea Transfer News: Latest on Raheem Sterling and Paul Pogba Rumours

Although Chelsea are odds-on to comfortably win this season’s Premier League title, manager Jose Mourinho wants more than that—he wants his side to become football immortals.

Doing that means adding to his already insanely talented pool of players, starting with Liverpool hot-shot Raheem Sterling.

The Englishman has stalled on contract talks with the Reds recently. He reportedly turned down astronomical weekly wages due to his desire to win trophies—a desire that Mourinho can undoubtedly fulfil.

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According to Chris Wheeler of the Daily Mail, the Blues have joined Manchester City in the race to sign the 20-year-old, although the Reds reportedly won’t take a penny less than £50 million for their star man.

On top of that, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers told BBC Sport that Sterling won’t be going anywhere in the summer, as the club will block his route out of Anfield:

"

Liverpool are one of the superpowers of football and if the owners don't want to sell, they don't have to. Concentration should be on his football. If his ambition is to win trophies, that's aligned with what we do here. This is one of the great clubs of the footballing world and, for Raheem, to be playing here it's an honour. He understands that, he sees that.

"

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Still, the fact that he hasn’t put pen to paper on a new deal at Anfield will be music to Mourinho’s ears, and he’ll undoubtedly be swooping to get the Englishman in blue.

Sterling, who started his career at Queens Park Rangers, recently told BBC Sport money isn’t a motive for his next move, but Chelsea’s ability to price rivals out of the deal could prove invaluable.

It’s where Sterling will slot in at Chelsea that raises the real question marks.

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The Blues’ attacking midfield trio of Oscar, Willian and Eden Hazard have made the positions their own this season, and not even Juan Cuadrado’s arrival from Fiorentina came close to changing that.

The Liverpool man would be the fifth man fighting for three spots if he made the switch to Stamford Bridge, which could clear the way for one of them to leave.

It also eliminates the possibility of Chelsea landing another attacker, namely Gareth Bale.

Tuttomercatoweb (h/t Will Giles of Metro) reported last week that the Blues are ready to stump up £217,000 per week to land the Welshman in the summer, leading Bleacher Report’s Garry Hayes to say that Chelsea would look invincible with the former Tottenham Hotspur man in their setup:

Hayes spoke of Mourinho changing his formation to accommodate whichever new additions head to Stamford Bridge in the summer, and while that’s not beyond the realms of possibility, the Portuguese manager isn’t the type to try to fix something that isn’t broken.

However, landing either Sterling or Bale will cost eye-watering sums of money, as will our next rumoured star.

Paul Pogba

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Another day, another Paul Pogba transfer development.

Let’s hope the Juventus midfielder doesn’t have the internet—I’m sure even he’s sick of seeing his name up in lights.

The latest rumour comes from Matt Law of the Daily Telegraph, who said Juventus’ interest in Chelsea’s Brazilian duo Oscar and Ramires will play into Mourinho’s hands in his bid to land Pogba.

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It means that the Blues can negotiate a player- or players-plus-cash deal to bring the €100 million-rated midfielder to the Bridge.

The Frenchman would undoubtedly slot right into the Chelsea side, particularly if the Blues land one of Sterling or Bale.

The potential formation analysed in Bleacher Report’s exclusive video shows three midfielders operating in the middle of the park—Nemanja Matic, Willian and Cesc Fabregas.

Obviously, Pogba would take to such a role like a duck to water, as he’s proved during his time with Juventus that he’s one of the best in the business.

The world is running out of superlatives to describe the 22-year-old, but PSG star Marco Verratti summed it up well enough by labelling him a “phenomenon”—per FootballItalia:

"

Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti says he’d like to play with Paul Pogba - ‘he’s a phenomenon’. http://t.co/FHtgwAdoMO

— footballitalia (@footballitalia) April 2, 2015"

It would take something truly special to lure Pogba away from Turin, and maybe two top-class players plus a few million would do the job.

It’s all just a case of weighing up whether or not the Frenchman’s brilliance is worth losing two superb assets.

Well, just spend 90 minutes watching the man in action and you’ll soon see what all the hype is about.