Real Madrid ‘prefer to pay’ £86m for Chelsea star than swap Tchouameni but ‘offer’ two more players | OneFootball

Real Madrid do not want to use Aurelien Tchouameni in a deal to sign Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea in the summer transfer window, according to reports.

Chelsea have spent well in excess of a £1billion since a Todd Boehly-led consortium replaced Roman Abramovich as the owners in May 2022.

There has been an influx of young and talented players coming into Stamford Bridge as BlueCo look to make profits on prospects while leading Chelsea back to challenging for titles.

Chelsea have finished sixth and fourth in the last two seasons in the Premier League as BlueCo’s plan has so far failed to deliver success on the pitch, while they are currently sixth having sacked Enzo Maresca for Liam Rosenior.

The signing of Fernandez in February 2023 from Portuguese side Benfica for £106.8m marked the beginning of a new era of transfers at Chelsea – but he could now be on the move again.

It has been previously suggested that Real Madrid midfielder Tchouameni could be used as part of a swap deal to buy Fernandez but now reports in Spain insist that the France international is classed as ‘untouchable’ at the Bernabeu.

Real Madrid ‘prefer to pay’ €100m for Fernandez than allow Tchouameni to leave but the La Liga giants are willing to ‘offer’ two other players to Chelsea as part of a deal.

For his part, Fernandez ‘would be delighted with the idea of ​​wearing white, although it won’t be an easy operation’ with ‘an investment of around 100 million euros will be necessary’.

Other reports have got the asking price at over £100m but Chelsea are ‘open to negotiating a swap deal’ and the Blues ‘wouldn’t hesitate to open the doors’ to Fernandez ‘if they could secure Vinicius Junior’s services’.

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez ‘could give the green light’ to that swap with the Brazil international’s contract expiring in 2027, while Arda Guler is ‘also impressing’ Chelsea.

The Turkey international ‘would help to considerably reduce the cost of signing’ and Perez ‘could accept his sacrifice in order to recruit’ the Chelsea midfielder.

New Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior has already expressed his admiration for Fernandez, hailing the Argentina international as “world class” in all the positions he plays.

Rosenior said recently: “I love Enzo because he’s world class in all of the roles you’ve just mentioned.

“You can play him as a deep-lying six who can get on the ball and make 100 passes a game. You can play him as an eight who plays box-to-box and arrives in the box and scores goals but also protects his own box. Or you can play him as a ten, because he can connect, he can create assists and score goals. He’s just a magnificent footballer.

“He gives me tactical flexibility for each game, against different opposition. My job is to find what functions around him the best so the team functions with him in the very best way.”