Chelsea give Alonso ‘green light’ to spend £103m on new midfielder from Barcelona | OneFootball

Chelsea have given Xabi Alonso the ‘green light’ to invest €120m (£103m) on a replacement for Enzo Fernandez from Barcelona, according to reports.

The Blues brought in 12 new faces over the summer transfer window with Marc Cucurella, Andrey Santos and Enzo Fernandez their main sacrifices.

Chelsea were attempting to get a new midfielder in right up until the new deadline with the Blues hierarchy giving the go-ahead for Fernandez to join Premier League rivals Manchester City in a deal worth £125m.

The west London outfit had Roma’s Manu Kone and Monaco’s Lamine Camara in their sights on deadline day with a potential deal for the latter coming the closest.

Romano said on his latest YouTube video: “Then, Lamine Camara and Chelsea. It’s been one of the craziest stories on deadline day and in the next days I will tell you more also about what’s next for this boy because it’s been a really crazy story for sure.

“What I wanted to reveal to you is that Lamine Camara was already on his way to do the first part of his medical at Chelsea. So Lamine Camara was already preparing for a medical in a private hospital in order to become a Chelsea player. Everything was really set.

“Chelsea are completely furious and very upset with Monaco and this is going to probably affect the relationship between the two clubs, at least until this is the management at both clubs.

“And it’s an important news because obviously Chelsea and Monaco always shared, until last week, a very good relationship. So seeing that affected is obviously going to be a big part of the narrative for the next years.

“But Lamine Camara was very ready to go to Chelsea. He was excited about that opportunity.”

Alonso gets the ‘green light’ for £103m Chelsea swoop

And reports in Spain have revealed that Chelsea have now switched target with Alonso ‘given the green light to attempt one of the most ambitious transfers of the upcoming window’.

Despite Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick seeing Fermin as a key part of his team going forward, a bid of €120m (£103m) could tempt the Catalan giants into a sale.

The report adds: ‘Even so, a fee exceeding €120million would force a reassessment of the situation. Barça needs to comply with Financial Fair Play regulations, and a sale of that magnitude would have a significant impact on their flexibility in future transfer windows.

‘The final decision would also rest with the player. Fermín wants to be a key player and knows that at Chelsea, Xabi Alonso would offer him a leading role from day one, but he’s also gaining increasing influence at Barça. Therefore, the transfer promises to be one of the biggest battles of the market. Xabi already has the financial backing to make a strong move and is convinced that Fermín can transform his team. Barça, on the other hand, knows that losing him would mean parting ways with one of their most valuable sporting assets.’