Boost for Leeds, Newcastle as Chelsea hand star achievable price tag for January
Leeds and Newcastle are reportedly preparing to move in after learning what fee Chelsea will request for a midfielder.
Blues boss Thomas Tuchel has plenty of talent at his disposal all over the pitch. His exceptional squad depth is part of the reason for Chelsea topping the Premier League and their Champions League group as things stand.
The only downside is good quality players being confined to the bench. Marcos Alonso, Saul Niguez, Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are just some of the players who tend to start games on the sidelines.
Tuchel is able to give them minutes towards the end of matches but this is not enough for some stars.
27-year-old Barkley is one man who could leave Stamford Bridge as a result. Recent reports suggest both Leeds and Newcastle are hoping to land him.
A loan move has been touted, but Chelsea are now willing to let the Englishman leave permanently.
Transfer guru Ekrem Konur claims that a bid worth £14million will be enough to prize Barkley away from west London this winter. The Champions League holders want to recoup nearly all of the £15m they paid for him back in January 2018.
Leeds and Newcastle will see this price tag as an achievable sum. Leeds have spent more than that fee on five occasions in recent years, which includes the signings of wingers Raphinha and Dan James.
Newcastle, meanwhile, have spent £40m on striker Joelinton and £25m on Joe Willock since 2019.
A Chelsea exit would make sense for Barkley in his bid to become a Premier League regular. The 33-time England international has little chance of replacing either Jorginho or N’Golo Kante in Tuchel’s starting lineup. He also has to compete with the likes of Mateo Kovacic and Loftus-Cheek in the squad.
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Meanwhile, Tuchel has given an update on two Chelsea players following the impressive 4-0 win over Juventus.
Trevor Chalobah put the Blues ahead in the first half. Reece James, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Timo Werner joined him on the scoresheet after the interval, as Chelsea leapfrogged the Old Lady in Group H.
The only negative of the match for Chelsea was injuries to Ben Chilwell and Kante.
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“Ben has a sharp pain in the knee. N’Golo twisted his knee a little bit.
“They will both be examined tomorrow. They are very sad things because N’Golo was very good before he went off and Chilly has been in a fantastic moment.”
Chelsea’s next game is against manager-less Man Utd on Sunday afternoon.
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