Chelsea have made a £39million bid for Sporting Lisbon star Joao Mario, reports in The Express suggest.
The winger, who is also attracting attention from Liverpool, impressed for Portugal in their winning Euro 2016 campaign and could now be following a host of big-name players to the Premier League this summer.
According to Portuguese newspaper Jornal De Noticias, an offer of £39million was delivered to Sporting by Mario’s agent Kia Joorabchian, alongside a matching offer from Inter Milan.
And whilst Inter are prepared to pay an extra £4million in add-ons, the report speculates that Sporting would rather accept Chelsea’s offer as the Blues are willing to pay a larger up-front sum than Inter.
Mario, who made 45 appearances for Sporting in the 2015/16 campaign, scoring seven and laying on 12 assists, is reportedly in favour of a move to England and is waiting for the clubs to agree on terms for the winger.
Liverpool’s offer of cash plus Mario Balotelli has potentially ruled the Merseyside club out of the running for Mario, as Sporting are not interested in a swap deal including the striker.
Elsewhere, reports in The Telegraph are suggesting Chelsea and Manchester United have held talks with Santos president Modesto Roma over the future of Brazilian youngster, Gabriel Barbosa.
However, Roma has said talks were held to “build relationships” with the clubs, rather than to “buy or sell players.”
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