Over the past week or so, the potential transfer of Kostas Manolas to Chelsea has become a thing again, as Antonio Conte faces competition from fellow Italian manager Roberto Mancini, now in charge at Zenit St Petersburg.
Reports from Italy suggested the Russian club had made a €30m bid for the Greek defender, which doesn’t appear to have been enough to convince Monchi to sell the 26-year-old.
Considering the hype surrounding a possible departure to the Premier League last season, you would expect more than one club to be after Manolas, but Gazzetta dello Sport on Thursday explain there’s just one, and that’s Chelsea.
According to the Italian newspaper, the Roma defender is one of many players on Conte’s wishlist this summer, and Roma are indeed prepared to sell, and for a lot less than expected.
Recent English reports stated Chelsea were preparing a £42m bid for Manolas, yet Gazzetta explain that if the defender were to agree terms with a club and said club were to offer ‘above €30m’ for him, then Roma would close the deal.
Of course, ‘above €30m’ could be anything from €30.5m to €100m+, yet you’d think a bid of €35m or so would comfortably meet that demand.
Still, £31m for Manolas? That seems like a good deal.
