Chelsea dig in for battle over €70m target’s price tag | OneFootball

When it comes to transfers, the theme of yesterday for Chelsea was without doubt Xavi Simons.

There was a lot of talk about our interest in the winger last week, but things went a little quiet over the weekend.

They were back with a bang yesterday afternoon, with top source Ben Jacobs claiming that we had finally made a “formal offer” for the winger, following positive talks with his club RB Leipzig hammering out the terms of what might be acceptable.

German side push for ambitious €70m

Xavi Simons is valued at €70m by his current club.

Now we have a little more detail about what those talks led to, and what the formal offer might be.

Top German source Phillip Hinze claims that Leipzig are hoping for €70m for their star player, with all add-ons included. Chelsea will be looking for something like €60m, and as usual in these circumstances, we expect they’ll meet in the middle at €65m.

That should mean a compromise can be reached quickly – but often these deals are slowed down by relatively small sums. There could be a lot of back and forth about payment structures and what exactly triggers the add-ons, as much as the numbers themselves.

Simons could be Chelsea’s last significant signing of the summer

Chelsea are very close to concluding their summer business in terms of incoming players from what we can see. Simons brings another attacking option, Jorrel Hato the depth at left back and centre back we want.

Then the focus moves to sales, with plenty of work to be done on that front too. It will be interesting to see what the sporting directors can conjure up for the likes of the unwanted Raheem Sterling and Axel Disasi once they can focus all their attention on moving them on.