Chelsea have stepped up their interest in Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and Frenkie de Jong from Catalonia giants Barcelona. Aubameyang only made the switch to the Catalan giants in February after he fell out of favour with Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta. The Gabon international recaptured his form in Spain scoring 11 times for Barcelona in LaLiga as the club recovered from a poor first half of the season to finish second behind arch-rivals Real Madrid. Auba might now be set to return to London again in a cut-price deal with the Blues. Chelsea are likely to spend over £200million by the end of the transfer window having already recruited Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly, with a deal for Marc Cucurella nearing the finish line. But Chelsea are reportedly keen to splash out again and bring in De Jong after the Dutchman's move to Manchester United stalled.

Barcelona have an agreement in place with the Red Devils for an initial fee of £63m but the former Ajax midfielder is said to be unsure about a switch to Old Trafford due to the lack of Champions League football.  It is reported that he is more accepting of the move to Stamford Bridge. Furthermore, it is reported that Manchester United would rather walk away from the deal than become involved in a bidding war with the West London club. West Ham are closing in on a deal for Burnley winger Maxwell Cornett after meeting his £17.5m release clause. Conor Coady is said to be on a move away from Wolves with Everton allegedly showing keen interest in signing the defender. 

New signings in the Premier League have already started showing their worth in the preseason but the real test begins today with the beginning of the English Premier League. The transfer window is still open until the last day of August and therefore clubs have got more time to still analyse their squads and input in the missing links while at the same time doing away with the players they no longer feel like they need their services at the moment.