Chelsea ‘agree £20m January deal’ for Barcelona transfer target Attila Szalai

Chelsea v Burnley: Match in Pictures

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Chelsea have reportedly agreed a fee in the region of £20million to sign Hungarian defender Attila Szalai from Fenerbahce. The centre-back, who featured at Euro 2020, has been attracting admirers with his performances in the Turkish Super Lig and now local reports in Istanbul claim the Blues have struck an agreement for the 23-year-old.

Chelsea are expected to be active in the transfer market when it comes to the search for new defenders.

That’s because as things stand, four of their current backline are currently out of contract at the end of the season.

That includes Cesar Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger.

While the Spaniard seems most likely to stay, the futures of his three team-mates remain up in the air at this stage.

Ideally, all would like to stay bar Thiago Silva, who is yet to make a decision on his future.

However, talks are at an impasse between the club and Christensen and Rudiger’s representatives due to wage demands.

Chelsea are therefore keeping an open mind about signing potential replacements, although Trevoh Chalobah and Malang Sarr are expected to step up.

According to CNN Turk, Chelsea have now struck a £20m deal for Fenerbahce defender Szalai.

DON’T MISS
Man Utd tunnel footage before Atalanta clash unearths Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s new leader
Tottenham boss Antonio Conte ‘to implement formation change’ after international break
Arsenal and Fiorentina ‘agree on’ £68m Dusan Vlahovic transfer price after London meeting

The same report also claims a contract has already been agreed with the centre-back ahead of a potential move to west London.

It’s said the deal is worth an estimated £3.4million per year, lasting six seasons if the reports are to be believed.

Chelsea’s name has often been used by clubs and agents to drive up interest in players.

It’s therefore no given that the Blues have actually agreed a deal with the Turkish giants for the centre-back.

Thomas Tuchel could yet return for Sevilla defender Jules Kounde after seeing a £42.5m bid rejected earlier this summer.

Follow our new Daily Express Sport Instagram page here…

But, the German has made it clear there is no guarantee Chelsea will return for the Frenchman just because he was previously a target.

“I think every transfer period you need to evaluate again,” Tuchel said. “You cannot say what we wanted in the summer, we do in the winter. And what we want to do in winter, we want to do the next summer. It is not like this.

“Your opinion changes, players change, you have evolvement in the group, you have an atmosphere that you build, you see who is absolutely reliable and these connections build up and create something special hopefully in the group.

“So you cannot say what we tried in the summer did not happen so we will try again for sure in the winter. Sometimes it is like this. If we see the same need, but clearly, Trevoh [Chalobah] is now here with us and he deserves to be here with us. It had nothing to do with if we can sign another central defender or not. But he stepped up.

“The responsibility was even more on his shoulders and he can handle it so far in a very impressive way. This is the situation and it has an effect on our next decisions in the next transfer period. It is always like this.”

Source: Read Full Article