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Chelsea are prepared to sell Italian midfielder Jorginho in order to raise the necessary funds to buy Declan Rice.
Frank Lampard has made strengthening his defence one of his main summer priorities and has identified Rice as the ideal man to help plug the gaps at the back.
West Ham have made clear their determination to hang on to Rice this summer, and value him at more than £60 million, but Chelsea believe that they would be willing to listen to the right offer.
And they could be willing to sacrifice the Italian who has been linked with a move back to Serie A and his former boss Maurizio Sarri, the pair having been at Napoli together.
Jorginho’s agent Joao Santos has done little to dampen down speculation that a move for his client could be on the cards this summer saying “Everyone knows there is a very strong rapport between Sarri and Jorginho after five years working together, I’d be a hypocrite to deny that”
It was Sarri who brought Jorginho to Stamford Bridge when he was Chelsea manager.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.