Chelsea have lost Levi Colwill to a lengthy injury and Enzo Maresca has made it no secret that he wishes to see the club attempt a new central defender’s signing in the couple of weeks that remain in the transfer window.
La Gazzetta dello Sport has reported that the Blues are keen on signing Inter Milan star Alessandro Bastoni and have already made an initial bid worth £43 million for the 26-year-old, which the Nerazzurri turned down.
Bastoni is inarguably the best and most important defender at Inter Milan, although they could make the most of an opportunity of cashing in on him having slapped him with a £60 million price tag some months ago.
He has won everything possible with Inter and as he enters the prime years of his career, it will be interesting to see whether he is open to departing his homeland for a new challenge, possibly with Chelsea in the Premier League.
Bastoni switch improbable this month
Alessandro Bastoni’s prominence at Inter Milan means it does not come as a surprise that the Champions League finalists have firmly turned down a bid from Chelsea for his services at this stage of the transfer window.
With barely any time remaining between now and Deadline Day, the Serie A giants would be faced with an uphill task of replacing their star man should they sell him to the Blues, therefore making it a very unlikely transfer for the ongoing transfer window.
That being said, Chelsea would be significantly bolstered by Bastoni’s signing and it is a prospect that they could possibly revisit next summer when he enters the final 24 months of his contract at the Giuseppe Meazza.
For the time being, it is starting to look like Enzo Maresca will have to count on the players he already has on his roster, unless the board is willing to break the bank for a player or identifies somebody like Marc Guehi, whose contract situation works favourably.
