Chelsea have reportedly held talks with AC Milan over a deal for Rafael Leao, who is said to be keen on a move to the Premier League.
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.
And The Times claim the two clubs met over the weekend to discuss terms, including the possibility of Milan ‘taking one or more players’ in exchange for the 23-year-old.
The report also states 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.
Milan – who will have to pay Lille 20 per cent of the profit they make on a sale – are said to value Leao ‘in excess of £80m’.
He could join Wesley Fofana in the Chelsea ranks, though Leicester are said to have rejected a third ‘highly conditional’ offer from the Blues for the centre-back, as well as Anthony Gordon, whom they are ‘ready to pay’ £60m for.
Gordon is said to have told Everton he wants to leave the club because he wants to play Champions League football and believes it gives him a better chance of making Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad this winter.
talkSPORT pundit Simon Jordon is baffled by the price tag.
He said: “Anthony Gordon for 60 million quid?! What?! I mean Haaland went for 51m quid, ok that’s because someone protected his contract and put it in a situation where the player was in control by having a release…
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