Chelsea have begun “formal talks” with a defender they’re looking to sign – but there’s also a warning about other teams in the chase.
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Chelsea’s big deal of the window is done – yesterday, the bombshell news about a £117m move for Morgan Rogers went public.
In defence, however, the Blues are still battling to lock down their man. Maxence Lacroix has clearly been their top target for a while, but there’s been little progress on signing him, perhaps because he is at the World Cup. Today, with France on the way home, it seems things are kicking up a gear.
Arsenal a threat to Chelsea in chase for defender
Transfer insider Ben Jacobs says that Chelsea have had “formal talks” with Crystal Palace over a move for Lacroix. Palace’s valuation is apparently “at least” £55m, with Palace using Jan Paul van Hecke’s move to Tottenham at the start of the summer as a reference point. Reports in the last few days have claimed that they could aim to get £65m or even £70m for the centre back.
There’s also an implicit warning in there – that Arsenal “also appreciate” the defender, having lost William Saliba to a serious back injury in the last week.
In other news…
Crystal Palace are playing hard-ball over Lacroix, and have apparently added €10m to his asking price as interested parties gather around the defender.
Chelsea could break last year’s impressive £300m of sales, given how they’ve started this summer already.
