Chelsea end their pursuit of American ace to focus on priority transfer targets

A deal for Tyler Adams is off as Chelsea pursue other midfielders this summer window

As per an exclusive in The Athletic (subscription required), Tyler Adams’ move to Chelsea is off as it stands as the Blues pursue other midfielders in this window, including Moises Caicedo.

Almost 24 hours ago, it was revealed that Adams will get his medical done ahead of a £20m move to Stamford Bridge. He has a release clause of that amount attached to his contract at Leeds United.

But, in a turn of events, the USA international returned to Yorkshire from London on Friday afternoon. It feels as if Chelsea are preparing to launch a herculean bid to overtake Liverpool in a crazy race for Caicedo.

So, any fund that is acquired could turn out to be helpful in the pursuit to sign the Ecuador international. The Blues are also in the race for Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia, whose future will be decided soon as per Saints manager Russell Martin.

As much as making assumptions is all good, let’s hope that Chelsea have a big plan in place before they decided on pulling the plug for Adams.

Although not a direct replacement for someone like Mateo Kovacic or N’Golo Kante, the 24-year-old is a fine midfielder who is good on the ball and works his socks off without it. He can play as a defensive midfielder and a right-back.

His performances for Leeds were eye-catching regardless of the fact that they got relegated last season. One of the happy days of that campaign was the one in which they beat Chelsea 3-0 with Adams producing a masterclass.

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It feels as if the club are leaving themselves with a lot to do in the coming hours and days. We have seen Chelsea operate like this in the past though. So, at least the people in power are used to these sorts of things.