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Chelsea are working hard on late deals before the transfer window shuts, with on-loan Las Palmas star Dario Essugo and Saint-Etienne youngster Mathis Amougou on their radar.
It has actually been a very quiet transfer window in terms of signings for the Blues, certainly by the standards they have set themselves in recent years.
Going into the final few hours before the transfer deadline and there have been no new arrivals, just a handful of players back at the club after being recalled from loan spells.
However, that could still change before Monday night’s 11pm deadline, with an array of names linked with a switch to Stamford Bridge over recent days and weeks.
On transfer deadline day two names have emerged which will likely be new to the ears of most Chelsea fans.
Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano reports that talks have been held over a move for Essugo, on loan at Las Palmas from Sporting.
He also reports that Chelsea have Amougou on their list of transfer targets, but who are these players?
Who is Dario Essugo?
The 19-year-old came through the youth ranks at Sporting and such was his reputation that he made his Primeira Liga debut at just 16 years and 6 days, becoming the club’s youngest-ever debutant.
The breakthrough into a regular first team performer has not quite followed and he spent a loan spell at fellow Portuguese side Chaves last season and is in La Liga with Las Palmas this season.
In Spain he has started to shine, starting 14 La Liga games so far this season at the base of the midfield, scoring his one and only professional goal to date.
Essugo is yet to be capped for Portugal but has played up to and including Under-21 level.
Who is Mathis Amougou?
Another 19-year-old who plays in the middle of the park, although a little more advanced than Essugo in his role, Amougou has turned out regularly in Ligue 1 for Saint-Etienne this season.
The teenager is not yet a fixture in the first team, with 17 league appearances and just nine of them being starts, but he is a regular in the matchday squad.
He was a key player for France as they finished runners-up at the 2023 Under-17 World Cup, scoring in the final and winning the Bronze Ball for his efforts over the tournament.
While he has scored goals for his country at youth level, he is yet to prove a threat for his club, without a professional goal to his name yet.
It is fair to say that both players linked to Chelsea would not be signed to be thrown straight into the Premier League side, but brought in as inexperienced prospects for the future.
Portuguese publication Record report that Chelsea would have to pay Sporting at least €20m (£16.6m) for Essugo and face competition from Real Sociedad for his signature.
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