Chelsea hold talks with Jorge Mendes over Serie A star requiring ‘XXL offer’ which ‘will come’

Chelsea have reportedly held talks with agent Jorge Mendes over a move for Rafael Leao, but AC Milan want an ‘XXL offer’ to part with the forward.

Leao was named Serie A’s ‘Most Valuable Player’ last season as his 11 goals and eight assists helped Milan to their first Scudetto for 11 years.

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Leao has been on Chelsea’s radar for much of the summer and emerged as one of their top targets having missed out on Leeds’ Raphinha, who opted instead to join Barcelona.

Reports of discussions over an improved contract at Milan dampened Chelsea’s interest, but they have now been encouraged by the Italian side to relaunch negotiations.

It’s claimed the two clubs held talks over the weekend, including the possibility of Milan ‘taking one or more players’ in exchange for the 23-year-old.

Any deal for Leao would be complicated, given 20 per cent of the transfer fee would be paid to former club Lille, while it’s also reported that Chelsea have been asked to structure the deal in such a way that Leao is ‘relinquished of a substantial fine’ imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport that he owes to former club Sporting.

CAS ordered Leao and Lille to pay £13.9m (which has now risen to £16m with 25 per cent of Leao’s salary being held by the court each month) to Sporting after the forward unilaterally terminated his contract before joining the Ligue 1 side, for whom he played for one season before his £27m move to Milan.

The Portugal international’s representatives claim it would be in Chelsea’s ‘sporting interest’ to alleviate Leao’s concerns over the fine as soon as he joins.

Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness) claim Milan ‘absolutely hope to keep Leao and could only capitulate if faced with an XXL offer, almost unreal, and certainly in the triple figures’.

This suggests Chelsea ‘would have to invest more or less €150m’, the current release, to get their man.

It feels unlikely Chelsea would stump up such a fee, but it’s claimed that Mendes, who represents the Portugal international, ‘has every interest in exploring the market and looking for a solution over €100m’.

The agent has ‘certainly spoken with Chelsea and Rafa Leao, assuring Milan that an offer will come’ and ‘he is not afraid to build a heavy transfer in the last week of the transfer window’.

Leao is thought ot be interested…