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Chelsea are trying to persuade cash-strapped Inter Milan to sell them full-back Achraf Hakimi.
Right back has been identified aa a priority by Thomas Tuchel; and Hakimi, who had a fine season as Inter won their first Serie A title in a decade, is their top target.
They have already had an initial offer of £51 million turned down, plus a choice of Emerson Palmieri or Andreas Christensen turned down, but now they are attempting to sweeten the deal further by offering up to three other players in part exchange, one of whom is Matteo Kovacic.
The other two are believed to be Davide Zappacosta and Tammy Abraham, who is also being closely linked with Aston Villa.
However, Inter, who have been told by the club’s Chinese offers, that they need to cut costs, would prefer a straight cash deal, as adding more salaries to their wage bills is not an option given their current circumstances.
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.