Chelsea do not want to pay over £15m for former Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.
The 33-year-old striker is close to agreeing personal terms with the Blues but the two clubs are still some way apart on their valuation of a player who looks surplus to requirements at Barcelona.
He played just eight minutes in the opening La Liga game because Barcelona understandably want to field new signing Robert Lewandowski.
Xavi addressed the rumours on Saturday but only said: “We don’t know what will happen. Right now he’s our player, he’s important but the circumstances will tell.”
The Blues have a chequered history of signing strikers and they are in the market for a new forward following the departures of Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner.
Both failed to live up to expectations at Chelsea after joining the London club for significant fees.
Chelsea are lacking a prolific striker. They arguably would have beaten Tottenham comfortably last weekend if they had a world-class goal scorer.
They were linked with Cristiano Ronaldo earlier this summer, but they decided against making a move for the wantaway Man Utd forward.
The Blues are now focused on signing ex-Arsenal captain Aubameyang. The Gabon international departed the Gunners earlier this year after falling out with Mikel Arteta.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel managed Aubameyang at Borussia Dortmund and is keen to bring him to Stamford Bridge, but not for the kind of silly money that the Spanish club want.
“(There was a) meeting in the night between Barcelona and Aubameyang’s agent to discuss the proposal coming from Chelsea,” Romano told his YouTube channel.
“Barcelona don’t want to include Marcos Alonso in this deal; they want to discuss Marcos Alonso in a separate deal. They are very advanced in negotiations with Alonso but they need to reduce their condeo (count) so including Alonso could be a problem.
“While Chelsea wanted to include Alonso they know that is almost impossible due to the Barcelona situation. So what is going on right now?
“There will be a bid from Chelsea but Chelsea have no intention to spend more than £15m, maybe with some add-ons, while Barcelona are asking for 30 million Euros (£25.5m). So there is a gap.
“Aubameyang has almost agreed personal terms with Chelsea on Thursday night in London so now it is up to the clubs.”
Chelsea have already spent around £180m this summer to sign Marc Cucurella, Kalidou…
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