Chelsea will hold a fresh meeting with Barcelona over the potential transfer of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, reputed journalist Fabrizio Romano claims.
The Blues have been trying to sign the Gabon star for a number of weeks, but have yet to reach a suitable agreement with the Catalan giants for his services.
Barcelona are currently demanding a fixed fee of around £20m for Aubameyang, but the Blues have proposed to pay £15m plus Marcos Alonso for the marksman.
There has been a stumbling block as a result, but Romano reports that Chelsea will hold a fresh meeting in the next 24 hours in order to make a breakthrough.
Chelsea remain insistent on including Alonso as a makeweight for the transfer.
Our view:
Aubameyang has been earmarked as the main target for Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel as he looks to bolster his attack before Thursday’s transfer deadline.
The Gabon star is well accustomed to the Premier League after his four years at Arsenal, and he could make an instant impact if he were to join the Blues.
Despite this, the club’s hierarchy seem reluctant to overpay for the striker, considering he is already 33 years of age and would not provide any resale value.
Chelsea have not given up on the player yet, but another deadlock in negotiations could force them to turn their attention away from the former Gunners star.
Earlier today, we covered a report which mentioned that Wilfried Zaha as an alternative. In our view, Chelsea could be better of signing him over Aubameyang.
Zaha registered an impressive 15 goal contributions in the Premier League for Crystal Palace last term. He can play on the left wing or as the main striker.
He is currently valued at £34.5m by Transfermarkt, and could be prised away for a similar fee with his Palace contract expiring at the end of the campaign.
The valuation is definitely more than Aubameyang’s, but he is nearly four years younger than the Gabon star and is currently in the prime of his career.
