As with every team in football, once the season ends fans start to get their hopes up as to who they believe their club should sign. However, as fans of the newly crowned Champions of Europe, should we have high expectations for the upcoming window or should we be settling for players to merely ‘make up the numbers?’

Below, I take a look at three players that have been linked to Chelsea who I believe are realistic signings that could make us challenge for all major honours next season.

1: Erling Haaland
It is no secret that Roman Abramovich is a big admirer of the Dortmund man as made public by a number of journalists. The only question mark besides a player of Haaland’s calibre is the price tag. Fabrizio Romano confirmed on the ‘Don Robbie’ YouTube channel on the 4th of June, that if Dortmund were to sell this summer, they would demand a fee in excess of €150m (£128.9m).

It will be very hard for us to get Haaland and negotiations could drag on for the whole summer. The fact Dortmund got Champions League football puts them in a position they could only dream of being in regarding this situation.

For me, this is a no brainer. Haaland is an absolutely brilliant player that can reach the heights of Messi and Ronaldo. The numbers he puts up at his young age of 20 are astronomical.

2: Declan Rice
As most Chelsea fans know, Declan Rice is a product of the academy and came through the ranks to develop into the brilliant player he is today. Once again, the only question mark surrounding Declan is, you guessed it, the price tag. It is being reported that West Ham will demand a fee of £90m. This may be expensive however, I believe he has the capabilities of becoming one of the best midfielders in the league as he slots into our starting eleven seamlessly.

Once Frank was sacked, everyone thought our interest in Rice was dead and buried however, it has come out in recent weeks that Thomas Tuchel is also an admirer of the West Ham man.

It has been rumoured in recent weeks that West Ham are interested in Tammy Abraham, this could be brilliant news for us fans, depending on how you view the situation, as this could potentially give us a bit of room to drive the price down and maybe even include Tammy in the deal. Tammy leaving could also open the doors for Haaland to come in.

3: Achraf Hakimi
If we are to stay with the same 3-4-2-1 system we are using currently, I believe it is beneficial we reinforce our RWB position in order for us to have brilliant depth so, we can challenge for all the major honours throughout the coming seasons.

As we have seen, in the last few games of the season, Reece James has often shifted to RCB in order to bring more strength, more pace and more defensive capabilities to the back line, this has left Azpilicueta playing RWB. Even though we all love the man, as fans, we can be the first to admit his time as a regular starter is coming to an end. This is where I believe Hakimi comes in.

Achraf Hakimi is a 22 year old Moroccan player that can be deployed either as a RWB, a RB or even a winger. He is a player that likes to dribble and cross a lot, mix this with his blistering pace and you are able to create a bucketload of chances.

What makes this deal even more exciting, is that Inter need to raise funds so they are asking for a fee in the region of €80m (£68m). However, it has been reported that Inter also want Emerson so a deal could be struck involving cash plus Emerson. This is a deal that makes a lot of sense considering various sources have confirmed that the Chelsea hierarchy have examined Hakimi ‘extensively.’

By Louis Chuter