Chelsea are pushing hard to sign Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong in the coming days, Spanish outlet Sport claim.
The Blues have already made five signings this summer. Raheem Sterling was the first to join the club, and he has been followed by Kalidou Koulibaly, Gabriel Slonina, Carney Chukwuemeka and Marc Cucurella.
The spending spree looks set to continue. It was recently claimed that De Jong has emerged as one of the priorities for manager Thomas Tuchel.
Direct talks are underway with the Blaugrana for the Netherlands international, and Sport reveal that Chelsea are ‘pushing hard’ to sign him in the ‘coming days’.
De Jong has yet to give an approval for a transfer, but he will be urged to leave as he is reluctant to accept a pay cut as well as forego his deferred wages.
The Spanish outlet reveal that Chelsea will need to pay at least €80 million (£67m) to sign De Jong once they receive the green light for a summer transfer.
Our view:
Manchester United were initially deemed to be leading the race to sign De Jong, but they appear unlikely to land him due to a couple of key reasons.
De Jong does not fancy a move to the city of Manchester while the Red Devils can’t offer him Champions League football which is a top priority of his.
Hence, Chelsea are in the driving seat to land his services. De Jong is also said to welcome a move to London. A deal now depends on Barcelona paying his owed wages.
This could happen fast, considering Barcelona need to make a big-money sale this summer such that they are in a position to register their new summer signings.
Chelsea have already spent £168 million up front on five players. With strong interest in De Jong and Wesley Fofana, their spending spree could well exceed £300m.
