Chelsea have stolen a march on Premier League rivals Liverpool by making contact to sign Matthijs de Ligt this summer.
The Juventus centre-back is linked with transfers to both Chelsea and Liverpool.
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp is reportedly ‘dreaming‘ about the prospect of pairing him with Virgil van Dijk, whereas the Stamford Bridge outfit are seemingly big fans, as revealed by Fabrizio Romano on Saturday.
The Netherlands defender, who has a £107 million release clause in his Juve contract, has also requested a transfer away from Italy this summer in an interesting development reported on Saturday.
And according to Sky Italia, Chelsea have now made contact to sign the 22-year-old powerhouse.
The report adds that in an effort to lower the transfer fee, the Blues have offered Timo Werner in a player-plus-cash deal and although the Serie A outfit are interested in that prosposal, there remains ‘great distance’ in the monetary side of the deal.
De Ligt joining Liverpool?
Despite boasting a wealth of quality central defenders, a transfer to Liverpool genuinely seems possible, too.
That’s because it has also been reported that De Ligt would sign for Klopp’s side if they paid him £200,000 per week.
The German manager already has Van Dijk, Joel Matip, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez – four stellar options.
But with Van Dijk and Matip being the wrong side of 30, and Gomez possibly leaving Anfield this summer, a move to Liverpool wouldn’t be as strange as it seems.
However, it would appear as if Chelsea are in the driving seat for now.
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