Chelsea, Man City make contact with agent in pursuit of £103m Juventus star
Premier League teams Chelsea and Man City have acted on their interest in a £103million defender, according to reports.
Chelsea have a strong backline consisting of Thiago Silva, Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger. They can also utilise Trevor Chalobah and Cesar Azpilicueta at centre-back.
Christensen and Azpilicueta are expected to pen new deals, which would be a big boost for Thomas Tuchel. However, discussions with Rudiger are going less smoothly. Recent reports have suggested that he could leave after being ‘disrespected’ by Chelsea’s contract offer.
Chelsea are looking for players who could replace Rudiger at Stamford Bridge, in the event of his departure.
City, meanwhile, want to bolster Pep Guardiola’s options in 2022. That’s despite him having Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Nathan Ake at his disposal.
Juventus’ Matthijs De Ligt is one man who would be a great addition to both teams.
He is becoming an important player for the Italian giants and the Netherlands national team. He has already received 31 caps at international level.
Reports coming out of Italy provide a report on his future. Calciomercato write that De Ligt’s agent, Mino Raiola, is determined to engineer a huge move next year.
The player reportedly has a release clause worth £103m in his Juventus contract. Raiola is currently trying to persuade interested clubs to match that fee next summer.
It’s claimed that Chelsea and Man City have contacted Raiola about his client’s availability. They are two clubs who certainly have the spending power to match De Ligt’s price tag.
They are not alone in the transfer hunt as Barcelona have also touched base. But the dire financial situation they find themselves in effectively rules them out.
Signing De Ligt for £103m would break the British transfer record. It currently stands at the £100m that City paid for Jack Grealish.
Chelsea also spent big recently as Romelu Lukaku re-signed for £97.5m.
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Pundit lauds Chelsea man after Brentford display
talkSPORT pundit Tony Cascarino has hailed Chelsea shot-stopper Edouard Mendy.
The Senegal international pulled off a number of top saves against Brentford on Saturday. He kept out both Pontus Jansson and Saman Ghoddos at point-blank range.
His performance helped Tuchel’s side to win 1-0 at the Brentford Community Stadium. Reacting to the starring display, Cascarino said: “[Chelsea] had a goalkeeper that performed miracles and you could argue that he’s been one of Chelsea’s best ever signings.
“He cost £17m from Rennes, came in and seemed to breeze into the team. Showed no signs of concerns of nerves.
“Yesterday was a day that made you think ‘wow’. Whoever made the decision, I suspect it was Petr Cech because he was at Rennes as a goalkeeper and will know a lot of people at that football club, and was probably pivotal in that move to get him for Chelsea.”
Chelsea will now turn their attention to the Champions League. They face Swedish outfit Malmo on Wednesday evening.
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