Saturday’s biggest Chelsea news and transfer rumour roundup.
Chelsea will have to break the British transfer record and pay £72m to sign France midfielder Paul Pogba, 22, from Juventus, and pay him £82.5m over five years, the Daily Express reports.
Pogba wants £300,000 a week to join the Stamford Bridge side which would make him the club’s highest paid player, beating the £200,000 a week which Eden Hazard earns, according to The Sun.
That means a five-year-deal for the French midfielder, 22, would cost £78million on top of a £70m transfer fee, bringing the total cost to £148m. Pogba would easily become Chelsea’s highest-paid player, eclipsing the £200,000 a week Eden Hazard earns.
Chelsea are set to give up their attempt to sign Everton centre-back John Stones, 21, and instead move for Monaco’s Tunisian defender Aymen Abdennour, 26, in a deal worth £15m, the Daily Mail reports.
The decision will come not only as a blow to Stones but also to Liverpool who have been linked with the 26-year-old Tunisian international but will now find their efforts gazumped.
But Zenit St Petersburg’s Argentina defender Ezequiel Garay, 28, is also believed to be interesting the Blues, The Guardian reports.
Chelsea are confident of completing a deal for Guangzhou Evergrande defender Zhang Linpeng, 26, although the China international will be loaned out for the rest of the season, The Daily Telegraph reports.
However, the Chinese side have told Chelsea that they can only sign him if they can promise him regular game time.
