Chelsea have given Barcelona two options for Aubameyang transfer

Chelsea have more than one path to acquiring Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Barcelona, CBS reporter Ben Jacobs exclusively tells Football Transfers.

Chelsea are in the market for a new striker having allowed Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner to return to Inter Milan and RB Leipzig respectively this summer, and Barca are ready to offload Aubameyang having paid Bayern Munich €50 million for Robert Lewandowski.

Barca have already beaten Chelsea to Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde this summer, while they picked up Andreas Christensen on a free from Stamford Bridge, but they retain an interest in Blues left-back Marcos Alonso.

Speaking exclusively to Football Transfers, CBS specialist Jacobs said the following:

"So I think that Manchester United still want a striker and that's because they are braced, potentially, for some late offers for Ronaldo and they've got some injury woes as well. And Aubameyang has crept into the conversation.

"I don't think that Manchester United are likely suitors for Aubameyang because his preference is either going to be to stay at Barcelona or move to Chelsea and Chelsea have always been optimistic that a deal will finally get over the line.

"The challenge for Chelsea is in trying to convince Barcelona to do a deal worth about £15m plus [Marcos] Alonso, and that effectively is an agreed deal. As far as the financials are concerned the only thing holding it up is Barcelona saying we've cooled on the moment on Alonso and we wait and see whether or not they U-turn on that position, depending on other movements as the window comes to a close.

"And then there's a secondary offer on the table which I believe is for just shy of £20m, and Barcelona feel like they would like closer to £24m or €30m and it remains to be seen whether Chelsea up that price.

Jacobs: Swap deal is Plan A

"And it's normal from Chelsea's perspective because they're not going to put two like for like offers down - on a swap deal and one in straight cash. They're going to put a higher value swap-deal offer and then a lower value straight cash number to try and force Barcelona to accept the swap deal.

"And then late in the window the dynamic might change and we wait and see whether Chelsea have to up a straight cash offer or whether Barcelona decide that they do want Alonso and can get him registered and that is the cat and mouse and the tactical negotiations that you get at this stage of the window.

"And then Chelsea still have to agree terms with Aubameyang. So very difficult for Manchester United to come in late and supplant Chelsea because they don't have Champions League football and Aubameyang has worked with Thomas Tuchel before.

Not impossible, but I sort of sense that actually that the Manchester United interest in Aubameyang is being pushed at the Barcelona end to put Chelsea under pressure to up their cash offer because maybe they're worried that Manchester United come in late.

"And then of course there's another intriguing scenario where fans will put two and two together and say 'well what if Manchester United got Aubameyang? Does that pave the way for Ronaldo to go to Chelsea?' And I think there's a 99 per cent chance that Ronaldo doesn't go to Chelsea because Thomas Tuchel's position simply hasn't changed."