Chelsea are planning a late move for Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey before the Premier League transfer deadline next Thursday, according to various reports.

The Express ‘exclusively’ report that Chelsea are planning to ‘pip Liverpool’ to the signing of Ramsey in the next few days. They write that Arsenal are considering selling their £35m-rated midfielder to finance their own transfer plans, but don’t go on to detail exactly what those plans are.

Immediately the story is ringing a few alarm bells, because the Daily Mail reported Ramsey-to-Chelsea last week, so this is hardly an exclusive.

Also, David Maddock, usually pretty reliable for Liverpool news, categorically states that the club have no interest in Ramsey, and there’s no chance of the Merseyside club making any further signings.

The Express aren’t the only ones reporting the story though. Calciomercato write that Chelsea want to sign one more midfielder before the deadline, and Ramsey is one of two names in the mix, along with Matias Vecino of Inter Milan. According to the Italian outlet, Arsenal would be willing to sell to finance a move for Steven N’Zonzi.

That seems unlikely, given the emergence of Matteo Guendouzi, and Unai Emery showing a lot of faith in Granit Xhaka with the club captaincy against Lazio and a new five-year contract. There’s no space in one team’s midfield for those two, N’Zonzi and Torreira as well.

Fortunately we only have a few more days to worry about Ramsey joining one of Arsenal’s rivals, then we can focus on the season ahead.