Chelsea are clearly looking to sign a defender before the August 31st deadline.
Antonio Conte’s team have so far been knocked down in their efforts to sign Kalidou Koulibaly, Alessio Romagnoli and Nikola Maksimovic, and reports now suggest the Blues are keen on Lazio defender Stefan de Vrij.
According to Italian newspaper Il Tempo, Chelsea have offered €22m plus €3m in bonuses for De Vrij, but that’s not enough for Lazio. The Serie A club have set an asking price of €40m on the defender. Lazio’s president, Claudio Lotito, is waiting for a new offer from Chelsea, which could come today.
It seems Lazio don’t mind selling De Vrij as that’d allow them to invest in other areas of their squad, but for that to happen then a deal has to be agreed quickly.
The Blues are not playing in any European competition this season, but are still short of defenders. Chelsea have started the season quite strongly, and Conte will be very keen to get some signings done to back it up.
