Tiemoué Bakayoko to Chelsea is on track, France Football make clear on Sunday before throwing a potential hurdle in the way.
On the bright side, Chelsea and AS Monaco are now said to have agreed terms for the player’s transfer. A fee of around €40m plus bonuses has got the two clubs to that point, with both sides giving up some ground in negotiations.
Therefore it may have been expected a deal was pretty much done, with it being somewhat old fashioned, albeit playing by the rules, to leave personal terms until after the transfer fee has been agreed.
However, France Football say the deal will take ‘a little longer than expected’ to be completed, because Chelsea and Bakayoko, or at least those representing the footballer, haven’t been able to agree on wages.
The two sides are ‘quite apart’, but talks will continue over the next few days.
Whilst France Football don’t sound especially worried a deal could completely collapse, Bakayoko’s camp need to be aware they’ve already scared Chelsea off once this summer, by hesitating over choosing the club, and could do so again.
