Chelsea ‘offer’ £120m as they eye £188m double January swoop with ‘direct’ talks planned | OneFootball

Chelsea are looking to bring Barcelona midfielder Fermin Lopez and Inter Milan defender Alessandro Bastoni to the club in January, 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.”

Reports in Spain are now claiming that Chelsea are ready to ‘offer’ €140m (£120m) for their Fernandez replacement with Xabi Alonso hoping they can persuade Fermin to join from Barcelona.

Alonso ‘considers him a priority’ as the Chelsea head coach ‘wants a midfielder capable of turning games around without needing to dominate possession’.

It is claimed by the report that ‘the €140 million isn’t just an estimate, but a figure they intend to use to test how far Barça is willing to resist the big offers from the Premier League.’

The report adds: ‘Joan Laporta has already made it clear that Fermín wouldn’t be sold for a reasonable fee. Just a year ago, offers were being discussed for around €40 million, and now his internal valuation has skyrocketed. His growth has been so significant that any negotiation would have to start at over €130 million. Flick doesn’t want to lose him either. The manager believes that Fermín brings something different to the team than Pedri, Rodri, or Dani Olmo , and that his understanding with Lamine is too important to dismantle mid-season.’

Chelsea ‘can offer’ more than Barcelona for Bastoni

Despite signing Maxence Lacroix from Crystal Palace in the summer, Chelsea are still hoping to sign another centre-back in January with the report in Spain insisting Inter Milan defender Bastoni is top of their list for €80m (£68m).

Barcelona are also interested in signing Bastoni but the Catalan giants don’t have the ability to pay the €80m requested for his services, while Chelsea would be willing to do business.

The report continues: ‘Joan Laporta and Deco have no intention of paying the fee Inter Milan are demanding for him, and have focused on other, more affordable alternatives, such as Ruud Nijstad or Nico Schlotterbeck, Hans-Dieter Flick’s preferred choice. Fortunately for the former Atalanta player, he won’t lack admirers, and Chelsea is one of the clubs that would be delighted to add the 1999-born footballer to their ranks.

‘Money is no problem at Stamford Bridge, where they can offer him an incredibly high salary, and also pay absolutely everything that will be demanded from the Giuseppe Meazza.’