Towards the back end of the transfer window, as Paris Saint-Germain were pushing to sign Milan Skriniar from Inter, the Serie A side considered a move for Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah.
The centre-back wasn’t playing that much under Thomas Tuchel, but a deal was never struck, with the Italian club eventually bringing in Federico Acerbi on a free loan with the right to purchase him.
Part of the issue was that Chelsea wanted some kind of fee up front to loan the 23-year-old, which Gazzetta dello Sport recall on Wednesday.
They state Inter ‘could not commit’ to what is described as ‘an expensive loan with an option to buy’, while the Blues were pushing for an obligation to buy.
Since then, there have been many contacts between the two clubs in recent months, especially because of the deal with Romelu Lukaku, who himself ‘could be key to getting Chalobah in January’.
The two are friends, and, as has been previously reported, the Belgian ‘would have pushed personally to get his friend to Milan’.
Chalobah, with his one league appearance to date this season, is ‘eager to get back in the game and prove he is ready for a top club’, currently blocked by both summer arrivals, Kalidou Koulibaly and Wesley Fofana, at Stamford Bridge.
Having seen what happened with Fikayo Tomori at Milan, that’s why ‘Chalobah remains at the top of the Nerazurri’s desired list’, but such a move would ‘remain closely linked to Skriniar’s future’.
That’s because Paris Saint-Germain still want him, and selling him would give Inter ‘a minimum of liquidity to reinvest’, with the Englishman potentially being the ‘first blow’ they make to rebuild their squad next summer.
