Chelsea Unwilling to Pay £60m for Alex Sandro Despite Conte's Desire to Sign Juve Star
Chelsea's attempts to finally sign Alex Sandro from Juventus have suffered a blow over the Italian giants' asking price.
That is according to the Telegraph, who have alleged that I Bianconeri's £60m price tag for their left-back is rated too high by the men in the corridors of power at Stamford Bridge.
Antonio Conte wants to raid his former club to bring Sandro to west London but is fighting a losing battle to convince his superiors that the Brazil international is worth his transfer fee.
Juventus had initially set Sandro's price at a whopping £80m, but have reduced it by £20m to try and entice interested parties into stumping up sizable amounts of cash for him.
However, Chelsea's board feel that the new reduced price would be seen as paying over the odds for Sandro, with the potential fee making the 26-year-old the second most expensive defender of all-time after Virgil Van Dijk.
Juventus have already confirmed that they will not stand in Sandro's way if he wishes to depart Turin - comments that had given Conte fresh hope that he may yet land one of his key targets.
If I had a pound for a every time I've heard "Chelsea close to £50m Alex Sandro deal", I would probably have enough to sign him myself.
— Uber Chelsea FC (@UberCheIseaFC) January 3, 2018
It's getting beyond ridiculous now.
(You may also be interested in Chelsea Assure Loaned Out Star He Has a Future at Club Despite £15m Ross Barkley Transfer)
Those quotes from the reigning Italian champions, however, will have piqued the interest over other top European teams too, with Chelsea's title rivals Manchester United also thought to be monitoring Sandro's situation.
Jose Mourinho is looking for a new full-back as he bids to find a solution to the problem left-back berth in his side, but it remains to be seen whether he can convince United's board to part with £60m for Sandro too.
Paris Saint-Germain are also supposedly keen on Sandro's signature and, if Conte misses out on yet another transfer target due to Chelsea's reluctance to pay the going rate, it will only add to his ire over missing out to a rival once more.
The Italian has already bemoaned losing out to other teams in the previous window over potential new arrivals and admitted recently that he is having to make do with whatever funds the Blues' board will give him.