Exclusive: Chelsea have €50m offer for world class central defender turned down | OneFootball

Rumours about Chelsea interest in Alessandro Bastoni have been around all day, and we’ve not been fully convinced. But we’ve just heard from one of our best sources that there is genuine interest in the defender, and that’s making us all take it much more seriously.

From what we heard, Chelsea have started discussions with Inter to find out how much the Italian giants would want for their star man. The Blues are hoping to pay €50m for the 26 year old defender. Inter, as you’d expect, turned that offer down. It’s not clear how much they’re hoping for, but something like €70m or €80m feels like what they would be hoping for.

“Sure thing” Bastoni would be an instant upgrade to Chelsea and their trophy chances

Bastoni is about as much of a “sure thing” as you could hope for as the Blues look for an elite defender to fill in for the injured Levi Colwill and to take this team to the next level. With two Champions League final appearances and 7 domestic trophies with Inter, he’s experienced but still young enough to be considered by the Blues’ transfer committee.

There’s a sense that after so much success with the Italian side, Bastoni could follow Simone Inzaghi out of the door and look for a new challenge elsewhere. He was linked with the Blues as far back as 2022, and since then has only improved his standing in the game.

Chelsea must complete pending attacking deals before focus turns to Bastoni

Right now we’d imagine there are other priorities at Stamford Bridge, with so many players on big wages still waiting to be sold and deals for Xavi Simons and Alejandro Garnacho left hanging.

But this one is lurking in the background, and could yet become one of the big stories of the late window.