Chelsea have been given a boost in their pursuit of RB Leipzig star Josko Gvardiol, who is also wanted by Manchester City and Real Madrid. Todd Boehly is keen to add further signings to Graham Potter's squad in the January transfer window with Gvardiol having been monitored by the club for some time, football.london understands.
The interest surrounding Gvardiol stems back to the summer when Boehly attempted a late swoop for the defender, before he signed a new contract at the German outfit. Chelsea were also heavily interested in his team-mate Christopher Nkunku, with that deal 'confirmed' for the Frenchman to arrive in west London ahead of the 2023/24 season.
Chelsea will be hoping Gvardiol can join Nkunku at Stamford Bridge in the near-future especially after witnessing his dominant displays at the 2022 World Cup with Croatia. Those performances, along with his outings for Leipzig, have understandably seen interest sky-rocket and clubs may want to strike a deal soon given the clause that activates in his contract in 2024.
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Sky Sports Germany reporter Florian Plettenburg, following an initial report from Yvonne Gabriel, has claimed that Gvardiol will see a €110million (£96million) release clause in his contract become active in 2024.
Plettenberg also states that Leipzig have a "good" chance of keeping Gvardiol at the club in the summer and if that plays out as suggested, his clause would become activate and that price of just under £100million would likely be the demand to any interested club.
Chelsea, Madrid and City are unlikely to be put off by the clause but it could see any one of the trio tempted into an early move for Gvardiol by testing Leipzig's resolve in the summer.
While that news may have been a blow to the main three clubs interested, the latest stance from Bayern Munich will be a significant boost. Bayern director Hasan Salihamidzic has revealed the German champions are not looking at Gvardiol, insisting they have plenty of option in defence already.
Speaking to BILD, he said: "No signing of another centre-back is planned. We're well-equipped at centre-back with [Matthijs] de Ligt, Lucas Hernández and [Dayot] Upamecano, three top players. We also have Josip Stanišić".
Bayern are notorious for poaching the top talent from other Bundesliga clubs, most notably taking Mats Hummels and Robert Lewandowski from Borussia Dortmund, while Marcel Sabitzer and Upamecano have both signed from Leipzig, with Konrad Laimer on the verge of also joining Bayern.
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