Chelsea would be willing to pay ‘close to €100m’ to sign Frenkie de Jong from Barcelona this summer, with the player slowly opening the door to a potential transfer.
That’s according to Sport, who cover journalist Lluís Canut on TV3’s ‘Onze’ program and how De Jong has now changed his mind on a potential departure from Camp Nou.
The newspaper explains that the Dutchman is no longer closing the door to a possible exit in the summer if there is an offer for him, with negotiations over a potential new deal having hit a standstill.
Barcelona want to sign him to a new deal until 2029 to spread out payments they owe De Jong after he deferred his salary during the COVID-19 pandemic but are yet to strike an agreement with the player and his team.
That, coupled with a need to sell a big-name player this summer has opened the possibility of the midfielder being moved on and Chelsea are lurking.
They are ‘very attentive’ to the situation around the player and have made their interest clear to him and his entourage, with Sport adding that they would be willing to pay ‘close to €100m’ to make a transfer happen.
Quite how they’d manage to do that isn’t made clear given their current financial situation and potential problems around FFP and PSR regulations given their big spend under Todd Boehly and co so far.
Sport, though, insist that Chelsea are one of several clubs in the mix and willing to pay should De Jong be available, which is very much a possibility.
