Chelsea won’t face Fermin Lopez competition from European giant | OneFootball

Barcelona star Fermin Lopez is the focus of the news cycle in Catalonia, with significant interest in a move for him from the Premier League. There has also been a suggestion that Bayern Munich could get involved in the race for his signature.

That race appears to have Chelsea at its forefront. The Blues opened talks with Lopez’s camp earlier this week, and have now made contact with Barcelona over a move. There are conflicting reports on whether they have made any offers, and how much they are willing to pay for him, but the latest is that Barcelona have raised their asking price to €90m.

Bayern Munich not pushing for Fermin Lopez move

Over the last 24 hours, reports have emerged over potential competition for Lopez. One of which being Bayern Munich, but Bayern Insider reports that the Bavarian giants are not moving for Fermin. They do hold an interest in him, but have not received approval from their advisory board. On the other hand, it was reported on Thursday that Newcastle United are reportedly willing to outbid Chelsea for the 22-year-old.

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Fermin resisting Chelsea charms?

Meanwhile MD report that Lopez has now spoken to Chelsea and manager Enzo Maresca. The reporting all week has been that Lopez is considering their offer, while Chelsea have increased their efforts to sign him despite their 48-hour deadline that they gave him to decide on a move passing without one. The Catalan daily say that thus far Lopez has remained firm on his desire to stay Barcelona.

In addition to the purely sporting arguments, there are those in Barcelona that would be in favour of a sale to resolve their persistent salary limit issues, but Hansi Flick and Director of Football Deco are against the idea – they feel losing Lopez would be a mistake. Chelsea are supposedly willing to offer him a starting role and to more than double his salary.