Chelsea set asking price for Barcelona to complete double transfer raid

Chelsea have set their asking price for Barcelona to sign Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso this summer.

Barcelona have expressed interest in signing Spanish full-backs Azpilicueta and Alonso, having already agreed a deal for former Blues defender Andreas Christensen.

Spanish outlet Sport say both Azpilicueta and Alonso have agreed personal terms with Barcelona, who are optimistic of completing the double transfer raid next week.

The La Liga giants still need to table suitable offers to Chelsea, however, with reports in Spain saying they want €13m for each player, meaning the total cost will be just over £22m.

Chelsea are ready to sanction Alonso’s exit but manager Thomas Tuchel and new owner Todd Boehly want Stamford Bridge hero Azpilicueta to stay.

While Azpilicueta is a firm fans’ favourite at Chelsea, he is keen to join Barcelona and could hand in a transfer request to force the deal through.

Azpilicueta has made 476 appearances for Chelsea and won every trophy available to him since joining from Marseille in 2012.

Alonso has also picked up a number of trophies in west London, winning the Premier League under Antonio Conte and the Champions League under Tuchel.

At the end of last season, Tuchel admitted Azpilicueta is torn over a possible move to Barcelona and feels he may have reached the ‘end of his cycle’ at Chelsea.

 ‘We had a lot of these talks because very genuinely it felt like he won everything after the Club World Cup, then suddenly given his personal situation I can understand these thoughts that maybe a cycle is at its end.

‘Then it is a change of ownership and he played only under this owner in this structure so it maybe increased even his second thoughts about his situation. But then his extension kicked in at the same time.

‘He loves the club, he loves the challenge, he loves to be here and he is our captain. We are still in a dialogue and at some point we are also selfish. We are not responsible to solve any other club’s problems or to fulfil any other club’s wishes.

‘Given the fact we lose key defenders already [Rudiger and Christensen], it is not the ideal scenario to think about losing Azpi even if I can understand his personal point of view.

‘At some point, if you are a legend – which he is – you deserve maybe also from me and the club a second look at it, if there is maybe an exception from the rule and we are still in this process.

‘If he cannot get rid of this feeling, if we have to talk about it openly, seriously and respectfully because he deserves it – we find out if he can give all that makes him special.

‘This is what we have to find out. That does not mean we find it out tomorrow or today, we still have time because we are also in the privileged position where we have a contract. We have to see.

‘I would hope strongly [that he stays]. He knows this. We are still in the talks to find out the idea.’

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