Juventus have reportedly decided to reject Chelsea’s latest offer to sign Dutch international centre-back Matthijs de Ligt.
De Ligt is one of a number of centre-backs who has been heavily linked with interest from Thomas Tuchel’s side this summer as the club look to replace Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen, who both left the club earlier this summer.
The 22-year-old, who has 38 caps for his country and has played 117 times for Juventus across the last three seasons, is set to see the Blues’ latest approach for him rejected by the Old Lady, who are keen to keep hold of the Serie A and Eredivisie winner.
Corriere dello Sport (published by football.London ) have claimed that Chelsea are set to submit an offer worth up to £67million for De Ligt, who signed for Juve from Ajax three years ago for a fee worth up to £73.6m, including add-ons.
That offer is set to be rejected straight away by Juventus, with De Ligt still having two years left on his contract at the Juventus Stadium.
The Blues currently only have a small number of options to fill up their back three. Club captain Cesar Azpilicueta has played there, with Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah and Malang Sarr also competing for minutes there. The likes of Levi Colwill and Ethan Ampadu are among those to come back from loan spells and could be integrated into the senior squad following loan spells away from Stamford Bridge.
Should Chelsea continue their pursuit to sign Matthijs de Ligt this summer? Have your say in the comments section.
As Chelsea look to bolster their options at the back, Manchester City ’s Nathan Ake, Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly and RB Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol are among the names who have been linked with interest from the Blues this summer.
The Blues are also expected to bolster their options in attack reports from football.London over the weekend suggested that Chelsea agreed a move worth £45m so sign Raheem Sterling from City, rising to £55m in add-ons.
Chelsea are also said to have agreed a move to sign Leeds United winger Raphinha. However, Barcelona are also showing strong interest in the Brazil international, who has also been linked with Arsenal.
A number of Chelsea’s players have been linked with summer exits at the start of the club’s new era following their recent takeover from Todd Boehly, including skipper Azpilicueta.
Both he and fellow Spanish defender Marcos Alonso have been credited with interest from Barcelona, the same club who are set to sign ex-Blues defender Christensen on a free transfer.
Winger Hakim Ziyech has also been linked with interest from Italian side AC Milan, suggesting that he may have also already played his final game for the Blues after two years at Stamford Bridge.
