Chelsea round-up: £23 million wing-back fee agreed; third bid for Drinkwater; Bayern reject bid
Chelsea have pulled a surprise move out of the bag as Sky Sports say that the Blues have reached an agreement with Torino for the transfer of right wing-back Davide Zappacosta. The deal will cost a total of £23 million and will finally see Antonio Conte land a player to add support to Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses on the flanks.
Zappacosta is a little known name to many, but he is well known to Antonio Conte. The Italian called him up to his provisional squad for Euro 2016 with Italy, but decided not to take him to the tournament. Now, he will reunite with his former player at Stamford Bridge.
In less positive news, the Daily Mail are not optimistic about Chelsea’s chances of agreeing a deal with Leicester City for Danny Drinkwater. They say that the Blues have made a £30 million bid for the midfielder, but even that is still someway off the Foxes’ valuation of £40 million.
There is now little time left for the two parties to negotiate a deal, as they did last summer to take N’Golo Kante to London. Craig Shakespeare is clearly not keen to lose another key player, even if the 27-year-old has submitted a formal transfer request in an attempt to force through a move.
The club have already seen one bid rejected, this time from Bayern Munich. Sky Sports say that Chelsea made an approach to the German club for their Brazilian full-back Rafinha, but that former boss Carlo Ancelotti has refused to sell the 31-year-old as he feels that his squad needs the experience.
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With a fee agreed for Zappacosta, it seems that it is not a major issue for the Blues. Rafinha’s experience may have been welcome but Chelsea’s squad already has several players of immense experience at an elite level with the likes of Cesc Fabregas, David Luiz and Cesar Azpilicueta.
