Chelsea have been given fresh hope of signing their main defensive transfer target Matthijs de Ligt.
The Netherlands international signed for Juventus from Ajax three years ago, amid much fanfare, but he has largely failed to live up to expectations and justify his £67.8m fee.
De Ligt is believed to have informed Juventus of his desire to leave this summer amid the strong interest from Chelsea.
The Blues are desperate to sign new defenders after the high-profile departures of Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudige, who both left as free agents this summer.
Thiago Silva, meanwhile, turns 38 in September, leaving Trevoh Chalobah and Malang Sarr as Chelsea’s only other recognised senior central defenders.
Juve have already rejected Chelsea’s offer of €40m (£34.4m) million plus Timo Werner for De Ligt.
And according reports, the Blues are now including Christian Pulisic as part of their negotiations for the 22-year-old defender.
Juventus would prefer to sign Pulisic ahead of Werner, while Chelsea are unwilling to trigger De Ligt’s €120m (£103m) release clause.
It’s believed that Juventus wanted €70m (£60.3m) plus Werner for De Ligt, or an outright €100m (£86.4m) fee for the Dutchman.
Regardless of the talks, however, Juventus CEO Maurizio Arrivabene says it is ‘impossible’ to keep a player who wants to leave.
He said: ‘It’s impossible to keep players when they want to leave the club – but all the three parties in the negotiations have to be satisfied.’
