The past week or so has seen a number of articles in Italy written about a potential Chelsea interest in Kostas Manolas.
The Blues were said to be ready to trigger the centre-back’s €36m release clause, which was a bit worrying for the Serie A side, who wouldn’t be able to do much if the amount was put on the table.
However, Corriere dello Sport on Thursday explained the interest came from an intermediary involved in the Alisson talks, most likely hoping to get the ball rolling on something that wasn’t really there.
Their Friday edition of the story has a bit more information, revealing said intermediary had presented to player’s entourage with a €5m/year contract said to be from Chelsea, which Manolas’ agent felt a bit forced to consider.
Despite this, the Greek centre-back isn’t all that interested in a move to England, with money not being the only thing that motivates him.
As Corriere point out, if that was the case, he would have transferred to Zenit St-Petersburg last summer.
Coming off a good season for Roma, Manolas’ form and the interest from the Blues has convinced Monchi to retouch the contract he signed last December, with the Spanish director of football wanting to modify or completely get rid of the release clause.
Basically, it doesn’t seem like the 27-year-old will be moving this summer if the Spaniard gets his way.
That is until the story changes again, of course.
