Chelsea ready to splash whopping £129 million to sign 2 exciting midfielders: Reports
Chelsea are reportedly willing to pay a combined fee of £129 million to sign Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia ahead of the next campaign.
The Blues are envisioning a brand new midfield after finishing 12th in the Premier League last season. They have parted ways with N'Golo Kante, Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek so far.
According to Fichajes, Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino is aiming to build a solid midfield around £107 million signing Enzo Fernandez. He has told his club's top brass to sign both Caicedo and Lavia soon.
Caicedo, 21, has emerged as a hot topic of transfer speculation of late owing to his stellar performances for Brighton & Hove Albion. He has registered two goals and three assists in 53 games for his outfit so far.
An Independiente del Valle youth product, the Ecuadorian has caught Pochettino's attentio due to his athleticism and tackling. He is said to be available for a fee in the region around £86 million this summer.
Lavia, on the other hand, has established himself as one of the hottest prospects in England of late. He played in 34 games for Southampton after arriving for over £10 million from Manchester City last summer.
A right-footed defensive midfielder blessed with passing and work-rate, the Belgian is currently valued at £43 million by the Saints. He is likely to be sold amid summer interest from Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.
Glen Johnson slams Chelsea for offloading 'world-class' star to Premier League rivals
Speaking to Betfred, former Blues defender Glen Johnson claimed that the Blues will regret offloading Mateo Kovacic this summer. He said:
"I think he's going to be one of the biggest losses for Chelsea this summer. They've got decent money for him, but they've sold him to a better side that he's going to improve. It was obviously a tough decision to sell him to City, but he's going to thrive there as he's going to be surrounded by world-class players and he himself is."
Johnson, who lifted two Premier League titles at the Blues, continued:
"It's good business from City's side. They have top quality players in almost all positions, so Kovacic doesn't even need to be an all-round midfielder, he just needs to be a rock for them in midfield and then play it to the fellow world-class player who's next to him."
Earlier last month, Kovacic joined Manchester City in a deal worth up to £30 million from Chelsea. The 29-year-old signed a four-year contract at the treble champions, replacing Barcelona signing Ilkay Gundogan.
Overall, Kovacic registered six goals in 221 appearances for the Blues.