Chelsea news: Double transfer hijack touted from under noses of Liverpool and Real Madrid

Chelsea need to pick themselves up and dust themselves down for the Champions League after another disappointing result in the Premier League. The Blues have now lost back-to-back games in the top-flight following a late 3-1 defeat to Brighton on Saturday – a result compounded by a red card for Trevoh Chalobah.

Summer success in the Club World Cup, plus Conference League victory at the back end of last season, had fans hoping that the Blues would hit the ground running in this campaign. However, it's been a stuttering start for the west Londoners, who find themselves 8th in the fledgling table with an equal number of wins, draws and losses.

Defeat at the weekend has seen some fans clamouring for Enzo Maresca to be sacked as the Blues boss, that despite him currently missing first-team players to injury or suspension. Senior officials have given their verdict on the Italian's option at the helm of Chelsea, ahead of their showdown with Benfica in the Champions League.

Meanwhile, the Blues could already be looking ahead to the next transfer window as they aim for two stars that are sought after by both Liverpool and Real Madrid.

Here, Mirror Football takes a look at three of the biggest stories coming out of Stamford Bridge.

READ MORE: Chelsea stance on Enzo Maresca sack decision explained after Brighton dressing room visit

READ MORE: Why Trevoh Chalobah will only miss one Chelsea game instead of three after red card

Marc Guehi comments

Wayne Rooney firmly believes that Chelsea will join London rivals Arsenal in competing with Liverpool for the signing of Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi. The centre-half appeared to be on the verge of a move to the reigning Premier League champions during the summer.

However, Palace chairman Steve Parish put a stop to the £35million deal at the final hour, due to Guehi's replacement, Igor Julio, heading to West Ham on loan instead. Now, the Eagles star can leave for free at the end of the season with his contract expiring - and there are plenty of teams interested in his services.

Premier League icon Rooney believes Guehi is in a perfect position, as he can choose where he goes. Speaking on his , the ex-Manchester United man said: "He’s in a great position. I’ve heard a lot of people saying that he’s acted with class. What he’s done is he’s probably gone into the owner and the manager and said, “Listen, I want to leave”, but he’s just gone in and trained.

"He’s gone in and been a team-mate which you have to do. You can’t say, “Right, I want to leave”, and not turn up for a week or two weeks. He’s done his job which he gets paid to do and that’s all he’s done!"

Discussing where he would go if he were Guehi, Rooney suggested Chelsea could be an option. He added: "Definitely not Liverpool. I think he’ll have options and I think not just in England, in Europe he’ll have options.

"I’ve just got a feeling that Arsenal and Chelsea might come in and they might try and take Liverpool out of it. But Liverpool, for me, is the best city in the world so if he does join he can enjoy everything about Liverpool, but I just hope he doesn’t because he will improve them."

Nico Paz race

Chelsea are also touted to join the race for 21-year-old midfielder Nico Paz, who joined Serie A side Como from Real Madrid last year. The former Madrid star was sold for just over £5m and has impressed in Italy, scoring nine goals and assisting 12 times in 41 appearances.

Real included a buyback clause in Paz's contract after he left the club in 2024, with the price ranging between £7m and £10m to return him to Madrid. However, if the La Liga outfit choose not to enter back into the race for the attacker's signature, then Maresca could be free to do business with Cesc Fabregas' side for the player.

Como would be looking for just under £70m to sign Paz next summer, as per CaughtOffside, as his contract will run in Italy until 2028. With the Blues struggling with injuries in their squad, Maresca may be tempted to splash the cash in young stars who could help get their domestic and European campaign back on track this season.

Maresca sack verdict ahead of Benfica clash

Plenty of criticism has been thrown Maresca's way after Chelsea's stop-start beginning to the season. However, senior officials at Stamford Bridge will reportedly not panic and hit the sack button if the Italian doesn't get the desired results against Benfica and Liverpool this week.

Despite a rocky start to this year's campaign, the Blues boss has been dealt a tricky deck with injuries to key players like Cole Palmer and two red cards so far. The club sit in eighth place in the top-flight and are also through to the next round of the Carabao Cup.

The Chelsea boss conceded that his side need to stop 'gifting' easy decisions to benefit other teams, citing Chalobah's dismissal as a "present" to the Seagulls. Speaking post-match, he said: "For sure, you cannot continue to make mistakes, also because they are big mistakes in terms of the game changing, the red card at Manchester United and the red card today.

"The message that we just said inside the dressing room has been quite clear: against any team in the Premier League, you cannot continue to give away presents, because what we are doing at the moment is to give away presents in terms of red cards. That is a big mistake because the game completely changed."

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