Chelsea will demand a hefty £80m if they are to part ways with French midfielder N'Golo Kanté, who is wanted by Inter manager Antonio Conte.
Conte is keen to rebuild Inter's midfield after watching their Serie A title push fall away last season and has identified Kanté as his dream signing this summer after missing out on Brescia's Sandro Tonali to rivals AC Milan.
The problem is that Chelsea feel under no real pressure to sell. Kanté still has three years left on his contract and is happy in London, so The Mirror state that the Blues have slapped a £80m price tag on his head.
Frank Lampard hopes to keep Kanté at Stamford Bridge, but there is an awareness that selling the 29-year-old is probably his best way of raising money, and with a £90m deal for Bayer Leverkusen's Kai Havertz set to be completed imminently, balancing the books doesn't seem like the worst idea.
Conte hopes to raise enough money by selling fringe players like Roberto Gagliardini and Matías Vecino, but one player who could find his way into the negotiations is Croatia midfielder Marcelo Brozović.
The Inter boss is ready to offload Brozović, and a source has confirmed to 90min that Chelsea are interested in landing him after international teammate Mateo Kovačić sung his praises to Lampard.
Alongside Brozović, the names of Chelsea duo Emerson Palmieri and Olivier Giroud have also been thrown around, with Conte eager to sign both as well as Kanté.
There was even a questionable report from Sport Mediaset (via Sempre Inter), which claimed that Conte had launched a bid for all three players worth a combined £60m. Unsurprisingly, Chelsea didn't bite.
There is no active desire to sell Kanté, who was a key player for the Blues when he was actually fit last season. He managed 28 appearances in all competitions, failing to start just three games for which he was available.
After lockdown, Kanté enjoyed a fantastic run of form which helped lead Chelsea to victories over Manchester City and Leicester, only for his fifth injury of the season to bring his campaign to an abrupt end.
For more from Tom Gott, follow him on Twitter!
Source : 90min