Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund are both at the ongoing Club World Cup and the Blues wanted to sign Jamie Gittens before the start of the tournament.
The Premier League club’s bid for the 20-year-old but didn’t match BVB’s €65m request.
Chelsea are still keen on signing Gittens this summer and last week we covered claims from Germany that they have held positive talks with the Bundesliga club.
At the weekend, several claims from the British press stated the Blues have agreed a deal with Borussia Dortmund. It was also reported he’s set to sign a seven-year contract at the west London club.
On Sunday, BVB sporting director Sebastian Kehl spoke to the German media and Kicker have relayed his comments. He revealed the England U21 international has been granted permission to hold talks with another club.
Kehl says there’s no agreement in place yet and the negotiations are ongoing between the parties.
“We have released Jamie for talks with another club, which are still ongoing. There are still things to be clarified. Things are in motion, but at the moment there’s no decision,” he said.
The operation isn’t finalised yet and the club official asked “for a bit of patience”.
Kicker state Niko Kovač’s side are demanding €65m and Chelsea can meet their request including bonuses. The director insisted they aren’t under pressure to sell Gittens and are therefore sticking to their valuation.
“We were aware that the player has a higher market value than what was on the table 14 days ago. We also expressed confidence. Let’s see if we get rewarded for that in the end,” Kehl explained.
“We’re not under any pressure. We still have eight weeks of transfer time. We’ll just wait and see what happens.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s Carney Chukwuemeka has been on loan at BVB since the winter market and his deal will expire today. Kehl is confident of extending his loan spell at least until the end of the Club World Cup.
“There’s quite positive news; I’ve had the discussions with Chelsea,” he said, as quoted by Sky Deutschland.
“We have a general agreement that Carney will stay with us as long as this tournament continues for Borussia Dortmund.
“There are some things to clarify, some formalities to complete. But we are very confident that we will continue to see Carney in the yellow and black jersey throughout the tournament.”
