Chelsea are ‘interested’ in Barcelona full-back Alex Balde, with the player’s environment making it clear to the Catalan club that a transfer is possible.
That’s according to Sport, who say the La Liga giants are pushing to renew the player’s contract and stop him leaving the Nou Camp this summer.
The newspaper explains that the club have made Balde’s renewal an ‘absolute priority’ and while negotiations are on the right track, nothing has been agreed as yet.
The player’s agent, Jorge Mendes, is also in favour of his client continuing where he is, as is the footballer, but wants the player to be valued on the performances he has shown this season. Barcelona are yet to do that.
Chelsea are ‘one of the most interested’ in the player as there is a belief that the left-back position remains a problem for them.
They signed Marc Cucurella in the summer but he has failed to convince while Ben Chilwell is also struggling to prove he is the long-term solution.
Thus, they are looking for a ‘top-level specialist’ and have shown in the last two windows that they are not scared to open their chequebook to sign the players they want.
At the moment there has been no official Chelsea bid for Balde and Barcelona are confident, following their latest meeting with Mendes, that a new contract can be agreed.
If that doesn’t happen, though, then nothing is off the table and the possibility of a transfer is there, with Chelsea very much attentive to the possibility of him becoming available.
