Chelsea are watching Emanuel Emegha’s development at Strasbourg and have held talks with their partner club over a pre-agreement for the striker to move to England in 2026.
Strasbourg became part of BlueCo’s multiclub operation two years ago and have impressed in Ligue 1 this season, qualifying for the Uefa Conference League after finishing seventh. A host of young talents have developed on Liam Rosenior’s watch, including Emegha, who played a key role in the side’s rise by scoring 14 goals in 27 league games this season.
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Chelsea have been watching the 22-year-old’s progress and want to keep him under their umbrella. It is likely that any other club hoping to sign the Dutchman this summer will be given short shrift.
The idea is for Emegha to maintain his progress under Rosenior next season and leave a pathway open for him to move to the next level by joining Chelsea before the 2026-27 campaign. Such an agreement would demonstrate to other young players that there is value in playing for Strasbourg. Andrey Santos, the highly promising Brazilian midfielder, is expected to be part of Chelsea’s squad after a successful year on loan at Strasbourg.
An agreement for Emegha at this stage is expected to be independent of Chelsea’s attempts to add at least one new forward to their squad for next season.
There is growing noise that they are favourites to sign Ipswich’s Liam Delap, who also has interest from Everton, Newcastle and Manchester United, and there is interest in Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitike and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko. Frankfurt want £84m for Ekitike.
