Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain are both paying close attention to the situation of one big name at Barcelona, as reported first via the Daily Briefing.

The player in question is Fermin Lopez, who has long been on the radar of top clubs in the Premier League and elsewhere in Europe.

Although Barcelona would prefer not to sell the Spain international, their ongoing financial issues mean they would have to consider big offers, and my understanding is that Chelsea and PSG could be ready to test that.

“PSG are preparing a serious offer worth around €80million for Fermin Lopez,” a source with links to the agents industry told me. “Chelsea are also considering a massive bid.”

It’s not currently clear if Lopez himself is pushing to leave Barcelona, as he previously turned down interest from Chelsea.

Fermin Lopez celebrates scoring for Barcelona against Real Madrid (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

It was confirmed that the Blues made a very significant offer for the player back in the summer of 2025, and they seemingly made it clear they would be prepared to come back in for him if his situation were to change.

Barca may now be open to cashing in on Fermin and although this has not been formally communicated to him, it could be significant in terms of encouraging him to explore other options.

While he was previously sure of his role and keen to stay at Barcelona, there is a lot of competition in Hansi Flick’s squad and he might find he gets more regular playing time at Chelsea or PSG.

Those clubs have the most concrete interest for the moment, while I’m also told that Arsenal and Manchester United have made checks on his situation in recent months.

It’s all a little speculative for now as it would require big money and buy-in from the player, but there’s certainly something brewing here and a growing feeling that this could be a serious story to watch either in January or next summer.

With Cole Palmer going a little off the boil in recent times, and Estevao Willian increasingly out of favour under Xabi Alonso, it could be that we’ll see Chelsea make some changes to their attack.

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For now, however, the more imminent possibility is that Chelsea will prioritise a move for Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott for January.

The west London giants are understood to be increasingly confident of their chances of winning the race for the England international after first trying for him in the summer.

That will likely be Chelsea’s main business this winter, but if they can wrap that up early it will also be interesting to see if they decide to step up their pursuit of Lopez.