Ben Jacobs and Sky Sports give conflicting reports over Chelsea’s interest in “£50m+” attacker linked to Chelsea | OneFootball

Yesterday’s big news out of Brazil was that Chelsea are interesting in Brighton striker Joao Pedro.

Brazilian sports outlet GE Globo reported that we had already made a €60m bid for the forward, backing up previous information from Fabrizio Romano that we were interested.

Chelsea top insider denies bid from Blues for Joao Pedro

But today, the sentiment goes the other way. Ben Jacobs, who is very well connected at the club, insists that we “have not held any talks and are not exploring a deal.”

Brighton, according to him, would be looking to make a “big profit” on the £30m they paid for the forward. Newcastle and Liverpool are named as the more likely destinations.

We’re inclined to believe him, given his track record and given he’s going against the grain a little here.

Sky reporter bridges the divide

Rob Dorsett on Chelsea interest in Joao Pedro.

Sky Sports’ transfer reported Rob Dorsett takes something of a compromise position, neither saying things are as advanced as GE Globo say, nor denying there’s a chance of a bid as Jacobs does.

He says we’re “interested” in the former Watford man, and that the player is “keen to talk to Chelsea if the two clubs can agree a fee. Dorsett agrees with Jacobs that there have been “no bids for the player so far,” and also thinks that the fee is likely to be “£50m+”.

So what do we conclude? It certainly seems premature to say we’ve actually made a bid, but given we’re likely building a long list of strikers who we could pursue this summer, it also would be premature to rule out any interest in him.

The fact is, if we know Brighton want more than £50m for their star, there may be better options out there we’d rather try first.