Transfer looks close to collapse as Chelsea told to almost double their bid according to Christian Falk | OneFootball

Yesterday Sky Germany’s Patrick Berger took the lead on reporting on Chelsea’s interest in Jamie Gittens, but with the transfer at a crucial stage there’s new information every day, and today Christian Falk at Bild has taken up the mantle.

Dortmund reject Chelsea opening bid and ask for almost double

Jamie Gittens in action for Borussia Dortmund. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

He’s claiming that Dortmund “rejected the first offer from Chelsea” for Gittens, which he says was a €42m bid.

There is a chasm between the two sides’ demands, as the German giants want €70m. That’s some way off the insane €100m they were talking about in January, but still miles away from what our valuation of the winger is.

There is also another twist – the deadline set by the Blues as they try to secure Gittens in time to register him to play in the Club World Cup. They will need to have the deal done by Tuesday for that to happen.

Gittens is a good player, but there are a lot of good players out there, and a lot of good players on our books.

Real doubt over Chelsea transfer with €30m gap and tight deadline looking hard to overcome

While yesterday there felt like there was some momentum to this move and that the two sides were getting closer together, this has thrown real doubt on it. The difference in price is pretty significant – it’s not just €30m it’s basically asking the Blues to double their opening bid.

The pressure of the Club World Cup deadline also makes such a big gap hard to bridge – they can still sign him after that, of course, but at that point other options may be out there, and who knows what may have happened with other players in the squad.