So it came out that claims from Le Parisien aren’t exactly true. Earlier this week, the French broadsheet made a bold claim that Chelsea had agreed to a deal for Leicester City’s midfield lynchpin N’Golo Kanté. The French midfielder, who played a key role for France in Euro 2016, will have signed a five-year deal as per the report. You can read the full story here.
As it stands, there’s no such deal being done but the possibility of Kanté joining the Blues cannot be completely ruled out. According to reports from the Guardian, the Blues have made a £27m offer, plus an additional £3m in bonuses for the diminutive French midfielder, however, the offer is likely to be rejected.
Kanté signed a four-year deal at Leicester when he joined from Caen last summer and the Premier League champions are desperate to hold on to him. There is a talk of a new contract being given to the player which would significantly improve his salary.
The Leicester manager, Claudio Ranieri, told BBC Radio Leicester on Thursday: “We offered Kante a new deal before he went to the Euros. Now I know there are a lot of big teams interested. It’s in his hands.”
Kanté’s arrival at the London club could possibly mark the end of Nemanja Matic’s second spell at Stamford Bridge. Juventus reportedly made an inquiry for the Serbian midfielder on Wednesday but Chelsea are not prepared to sell him unless they have signed another central midfielder. Fair enough.
Conte wants Lazio winger Antonio Candreva?
Antonio Conte in his first press conference has touched on every possible topic (players, training, the club, John Terry, tactics and so on) except on transfers. That’s good. These are things that should be kept private. Reports from Italy suggest that Conte is possibly looking to sign a winger and has fixed his eye on Lazio’s 29-year-old Italy international Antonio Candreva.
I personally wanted to see Conte bringing Juan Cuadrado back at Chelsea but it seems Juventus are working on keeping him in Turin. Candreva has failed to sign an agreement with Lazio (a club in a total mess at the moment) and Chelsea can tempt him to join the London outfit with a lucrative offer.
Atleti still hope to bring Diego Costa
Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has admitted that signing a striker is a top priority this summer but he has no idea whether Diego Costa will join the Rojibancos anytime soon.
For the sake of reference, Cerezo said back in February that Atleti will try everything in their power to bring Costa back to Spain. Chelsea have no intentions of selling him but Cerezo still feels “everything is possible in life and football” while commenting on Atletico’s possibility of signing the Spain striker.
Atletico have been linked with a few top strikers in recent months like – Carlos Bacca, Kevin Gameiro, Mauro Icardi, and Gonzalo Higuain – but it seems Costa remains Diego Simeone’s first choice target.
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