Having bolstered the midfield and forward department this summer, Chelsea shift their attention towards adding depth in the central defence. The likes of Kostas Manolas and Leonardo Bonucci being linked with the club while recently Chelsea have shown an interest in Benfica’s highly rated defender Victor Lindelof.
The 22-year-old has a €30m buy-out clause which is within Chelsea’s affordable range. Benfica want to act quickly and tie him down with a new contract which will see his release clause bump up to €45-60m.
Benfica hold a slight advantage here as the player reportedly has agreed to stay on for another year at the Portuguese club before he moving elsewhere. He is a guaranteed regular starter and Benfica can lure him to stay with an improved pay package.
Lindelof would like an opportunity to grow as a player by playing regularly for one more season before moving on in search of taking his career to the next level.
According to reports from O JOGO in today’s edition, Chelsea are reluctant to pay €30m for a player who hasn’t really proved himself yet at big stages. At the same time, he’s way cheaper than Chelsea’s other centre-back targets so Roman Abramovich might be tempted to invest his money on the Swedish defender.
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