Chelsea are clearly playing hardball with transfers at the moment, and seem to be keen for that story to be out there.
Last week there were claims of a big Willian offer from Barcelona being rejected, but the Catalan media didn’t seem to know anything about it and it appeared a public relations effort either on behalf of the player or his club.
Cesc Fabregas was another example, at first the French press explained Monaco would drag Chelsea far down from their €10m asking price, and soon that went out of the window.
Then there’s the chase for a replacement, and despite Sky Sports reporting a week ago that deals for Nicolò Barella and Leandro Paredes were on the verge of being done, it now appears further away. So it certainly wasn’t the case that things which almost there, as was further backed up by the media in both Italy and Russia.
Monday saw claims from Brazil that the club and Kia Joorabchian are having problems with their relationship because the agent’s commission requests are deemed too high, another sign of the tough stance.
It’s claimed they’ll ask €110m for their star in the summer, despite him only having a year of contract left. The Blues won’t be ‘put against the wall’ and aren’t simply going to collapse under pressure.
This could be a problem for Real Madrid, with Florentino Perez edging away from his Galactico fees.
HLN say that Marina Granovskaia isn’t shaken. When her phone lights up with the name Jose Angel Sanchez, at Madrid, she’s ready to just shoot back with the price.
For Hazard, the situation remains as it long has: He wants a move to Real Madrid, Perez isn’t super keen to pay for it, and Chelsea are trying to stay strong.
For Chelsea, their approach is getting increasingly tough.
