Chelsea racing to complete deadline day deals for Barkley and Drinkwater after Oxlade-Chamberlain snub

Chelsea are continuing negotiations with Everton and Leicester City over the transfers of Ross Barkley and Danny Drinkwater, respectively, after missing out on Arsenal midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to Liverpool.

The Daily Telegraph says the Blues were left frustrated by Oxlade-Chamberlain choosing to join Liverpool over them and are now racing to complete deals for Barkley and Drinkwater on deadline day to appease manager Antonio Conte.

Everton rejected a £25m ($32m) bid from Chelsea from Barkley this week and have asked for £35m for the England international, while Tottenham could also launch a late bid to sign him.

Leicester have turned down two bids from the Blues for Drinkwater and are holding out for £35m to part ways with the midfielder.

Chelsea are also reported to be close to completing a £15m deal to sign Fernando Llorente from Swansea City, while they are also considering launching one last offer to sign left-back Alex Sandro from Juventus.

Meanwhile, Southampton have ruled out selling right-back Cedric Soares to Chelsea, who wanted the Portugal international as an alternative to Oxlade-Chamberlain.

In what promises to be a frantic deadline day at Stamford Bridge, Blues officials are also plotting a way to offload striker Diego Costa to Atletico Madrid, despite the Spanish side being rendered incapable of registering new players owing to a transfer ban.

Conte made a fresh plea for more players to be brought in after Chelsea's 2-0 victory over Everton last weekend.

"There are four days to go in the market. I think the club is working very hard to improve our squad," he was reported as saying by Goal.

"Don't forget when we start, next month, in September we have to play seven games. I need to rotate my players because it's very difficult to play seven games in a month with some players.

"I think the club is working very hard to strengthen the squad. They know very well our situation."

Keep track of all the confirmed deals with our LIVE transfer deadline day blog.