Barcelona 'eyeing two Chelsea midfielders' as Deco plots January raid on former club

La Blaugrana were financially restricted once again in the summer transfer window, only getting the chequebook out for Dani Olmo and Pau Victor while signing Wojciech Szczesny on a free transfer.

In spite of their volatile economic situation, and a plethora of injuries early on in the season, the Catalan giants have made a flying start to life under Hansi Flick and sit at the top of the La Liga table.

Barca made it nine victories from 10 games in the Spanish top-flight campaign with a 5-1 crushing of Sevilla on Sunday night, thereby restoring a three-point lead over reigning champions Real Madrid at the summit of the standings.

However, improvements are being sought for the January transfer window, and according to Football Espana, sporting director Deco is plotting a raid on his former team Chelsea, whom he represented from 2008 to 2010.

Deco 'wants Carney Chukwuemeka, Romeo Lavia at Barcelona'

The report claims that the ex-Portugal international has been running the rule over Carney Chukwuemeka and Romeo Lavia, and the Blaugrana were offered the chance to sign the former on loan over the summer.

A switch to Camp Nou did not materialise for Chukwuemeka, though, and he has been largely frozen out of the Chelsea squad under Maresca, making just one substitute appearance in the EFL Cup against Barrow.

Meanwhile, Lavia has experienced an injury-riddled start to life at Stamford Bridge since leaving Southampton in 2023 and has only made five appearances for the Blues in all competitions, four of which have come this term.

However, the Belgian earned plaudits for his performance on the opening weekend against Manchester City and also started Sunday's clash with Liverpool, but he was brought off in the 53rd minute of that 2-1 loss.

Deco was reportedly hopeful of signing Lavia on loan in 2023 before Liverpool and Chelsea engaged in a heated bidding war, but the Barca chief still has both the Belgian and Chukwuemeka on his radar.

How realistic is Barcelona's double Chelsea raid?

All throughout the summer, Barcelona were linked with a host of defensive midfielders who could step into the Sergio Busquets void, which was not adequately filled by Oriol Romeu last season.

Ilkay Gundogan's return to Manchester City depleted La Blaugrana's engine room options further, but Flick has supposedly told the powers-that-be that he is happy with his options in the number six position.

However, those options include Eric Garcia and Andreas Christensen - centre-backs by trade - ACL victim Marc Bernal and Frenkie de Jong, who has been plagued by his own fitness woes and is linked with a move elsewhere almost every transfer window.

As a result, Barcelona should not be closing the door entirely on a midfield swoop in January, and Chelsea would surely have no qualms about letting Chukwuemeka leave, so long as he was promised regular game time.

La Blaugrana may not be so lucky in their pursuit of Lavia, though, as he has shown glimpses of what he is capable of in Maresca's system and will be incredibly useful if Moises Caicedo or Enzo Fernandez are ever out for an extended period.