Xavi Simons to Chelsea transfer update as RB Leipzig issue new statement after £74m agreement

Chelsea have been dealt a slight setback in the ongoing race to sign Xavi Simons. The 22-year-old attacking midfielder, who has been heavily linked with a move to Stamford Bridge this summer, has been named in RB Leipzig's travelling squad for their friendly against RC Lens this weekend.

Ole Werner's team will lock horns with the Ligue 1 outfit at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis - on Saturday afternoon - in their final match of pre-season. Despite having missed training earlier in the week, Simons will jet across to France with his Leipzig teammates.

Although the 28-cap Netherlands international appears to have been reintegrated into the squad, football.london understands that there is still an expectation and confidence that a deal with Chelsea will be completed eventually.

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The west Londoners have remained in contact with Leipzig - with talks ongoing - but they have been focused on resolving up Benjamin Sesko's future. football.london also understands that the German club want to sign Harvey Elliott from Liverpool, with negotiations underway.

Sesko, on the other hand, was omitted from the Leipzig squad to face Lens this weekend. The 22-year-old striker appears to be closing in a move to Manchester United as Ruben Amorim looks to bolster his attacking options.

According to The Athletic, on Thursday, the Red Devils agreed a deal in principle with the Bundesliga outfit for the transfer of Sesko. The report claims that United had an offer worth €76.5m (£66.4m), plus €8.5m (£7.4m) in add-ons, accepted by Leipzig, beating Newcastle to the Slovenia international's signature.

Maresca and Amorim will be eager to add Simons and Sesko to their respective squads ahead of the opening weekend of the new Premier League season. On Sunday, August 17, Chelsea take on Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge, while United take on Arsenal at Old Trafford.

In the meantime, the Blues will step up preparations at Cobham training ground. Speaking to official club media, Maresca said: "I can see that the mood is different, or much better.

"When you finish the season the way we finished - getting the top five, winning the Conference League and then the Club World Cup - I think it is going to give the players more energy, a boost.

"But we need to see how we manage this kind of situation that is new for everyone. The focus was just to allow them to recover because we played 64 games, and they didn’t stop playing for more than a year in a row.

"That is something that has never happened before, so the main focus was just to allow the players to recover. Then they came back here and now we try to do our best. We will see game by game."

Maresca added: "We need to be ready in any case, it's important to start again in the way we finished last season, knowing that it was a strange end. It's something that has happened for the first time, and we need to see how we adapt, for sure we need to be ready.

"I'm curious because Palace started the day after we finished in the USA. We had three weeks off, started four days ago, and we have two friendly games. Then we will go into the Premier League. So, we will see game by game, day by day, how we are."