Chelsea launch £25m bid for Barkley

Turns out Antonio Conte wants all of the English midfielders/forwards. After news broke yesterday that Chelsea had reached an agreement with Arsenal for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, there was some talk that they still wanted Ross Barkley too.

Today Chelsea have made a £25 million bid for the Everton forward who is out at least until December after pulling his groin, having minor surgery, then injuring his hamstring, and having more surgery to repair that, all without playing a single competitive game for the Toffees this season.

The amount was reported by the Telegraph, who went on to say that the Stamford Bridge side were also lining up Danny Drinkwater and Fernando Llorente as well before the transfer window closes on Thursday night.

Everton had initially slapped a £50m price tag on the Wavertree-born player, but that number was never going to get matched with the player entering the last year of his current contract and refusing to sign a new deal.

There was the chance that a bidding war could erupt between Chelsea and fellow Londoners Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, but that seems unlikely now especially considering the Gunners are undergoing an upheaval of epic proportions while Daniel Levy’s Spurs are still counting pennies and smarting from their decision to snap up Moussa Sissoko for £30m last summer when money still had value and players didn’t cost an entire third world nation’s GDP.