Chelsea Steal March On Man Utd After Opening Talks Over £43m Midfielder

Managers are now pressing ahead with their plans for the summer transfer window so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip from around the globe. Today, Chelsea have made their move for Renato Sanches…

Chelsea have stolen a march on Manchester United after Antonio Conte held talks about signing Bayern Munich midfielder Renato Sanches this summer, according to the Goal.

Sanches is expected to leave the Allianz Arena after struggling to hold down a regular first team place under Carlo Ancelotti since joining Bayern from Benfica 12 months ago.

The 19-year-old made just 6 Bundesliga starts last season so the Portuguese international is looking for a move in order to secure regular football ahead of the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia.

Bayern chief Karl-Heinz Rummenigge confirmed earlier this week they are open to the idea of letting Sanches go and suggested an offer of £43m would be enough to tempt them in to a sale.

Rummenigge is quoted by the Express as saying earlier this week:

“He won’t get enough minutes at Bayern, so we’re willing to negotiate a loan deal and maybe beyond that,” he said.

“If a club are interested in a Bayern player, they must be ready to deal with significant economic figures. We’ll say that it wouldn’t be bad if a £43million offer came in for him.”

This prompted speculation that Sanches could be heading to Manchester United with the Express suggesting Jose Mourinho is ready to renew his interest in the midfielder after missing out last summer.

Mourinho has grown frustrated with United’s lack of movement in the transfer window as he’s desperate to bring in another central midfielder to act as a long-term replacement for Michael Carrick and Sanches is seemingly on his radar.

However, it looks like United will face stiff competition as Rummenigge has now revealed that Chelsea have expressed their interest in taking Sanches to Stamford Bridge this summer.

The Bayern CEO claims Conte spoke directly with Ancelotti about Sanches’s situation after Chelsea’s friendly defeat to Bayern on Tuesday night but it looks like the German giants are leaning towards sending the youngster out on loan instead of a permanent deal.

Rummenigge is quoted by Goal as saying:

“There are at least 10 teams after Sanches. Conte asked for some information about him after Tuesday’s match because he knows he can make the difference on the pitch.

“[Carlo] Ancelotti was pleased with his performance against Chelsea so we can make some reasoning on him later. Almost certainly we’ll let him leave just on loan, we still count on him.”

Chelsea have already signed Tiemoue Bakayoko from Monaco and he’s expected to partner N’Golo Kante in the middle of the park this season so it’s difficult to see where Sanches would fit in if he did move to west London.

Nemanja Matic is expected to leave over the coming weeks so Sanches is probably viewed as the Serbian’s replacement but with Cesc Fabregas also vying for a spot in Conte’s side, there will still be plenty of competition at Chelsea.

READ MORE –> Man Utd transfer news | Chelsea transfer news

We’ll have to wait and see how things develop over the coming weeks but I think Sanches would be an excellent signing for either Chelsea or United if they manage to win the race for his signature.