Juventus have responded to Chelsea’s move for defender Matthijs de Ligt.
While Chelsea are offering either Christian Pulisic or Timo Werner as part of the deal for De Ligt, the Old Lady will only accept a straight cash for the player..
A new centre back has become a top priority for the Blues following the departure of Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger.
De Ligt has now emerged as Chelsea’s top choice to reinforce their back-line and the Blues are believed to have opened the bidding with a player-plus-cash deal worth £40million plus the choice of either Werner or Pulisic.
However, Tuttosport reports that Juventus’s hierarchy have turned down the proposed swap deal.and made it clear that neither player is of interest to them.
Juventus boss, Max Allegri is said to be in search of a more traditional striker with physicality and strength who has similar characteristics to Dusan Vlahovic and can fill in for the giant Serbian frontman.
But Werner does not fit that profile and Allegri would rather sign Marko Arnautovic, who netted 14 goals for Bologna last season.
Similarly, Pulisic is not particularly highly rated by Juve and Allegri’s top target to play on the wing is Angel Di Maria.
With a player swap deal off the table for De Ligt, Juventus – who do not want to sell – will only accept a massive cash offer.
Juventus value De Ligt at closer to €100m (£86m), around £10m more than they paid Ajax three years ago.
The Blues are yet to bring in any player this transfer window, but that could change soon with club’s new owner Todd Boehly having held a crucial meeting with manager Thomas Tuchel on this regard.
The American wants to spend over £200 million this transfer window on new players in a top striker, having sent Romelu Lukaku out on loan to Inter Milan.
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