I find the Chelsea interest strange. Yes, Chelsea will have issues in midfield in 2023 but they have major holes at CB and ST right now! Surely they would prioritise those two positions right now ahead of FdJ? Plus the new FFP rules are supposed to limit clubs to having their costs limited to 70% of their revenue; Chelsea have already signed Sterling, Koulibaly, Chukwuemeka, and Cucurellla, and are looking at signing Sesko, either Walker-Peters or Dumfries, Fofana, and de Jong. That will put major pressure on them in terms of FFP; remember, City only got away with it because they covered their tracks well in advance.
Per the Miguel Delaney article earlier, it seemed like Barca were trying to encourage Chelsea to make a move. Selling FdJ before August 13th would make registering players a lot easier so maybe it was Barca who made the move and not Chelsea. Another thing is that per Ben Jacobs, Chelsea's deal was around £70M, lower than Utd's £75M. Why would Barca accept a lower deal off Chelsea? And Jacob Steinberg has reported that Chelsea are running into the same issues as United, which I'm guessing is the £17M in deferred wages. Unless the deferred wages get sorted, I can't see Frenkie going anywhere. But then again, surely Barca know that? And if Barca know that, why are they trying to speed up this move by getting Chelsea in and accepting a lower bid than Utd? Plus Ornstein reported that FdJ has yet to make his decision, which differs from the sources who are saying that FdJ is more open to Chelsea than Utd. Put it together and it's all very strange....