According to reports, Chelsea and Liverpool have joined Newcastle United in the battle for Inter Milan midfielder Nicolo Barella.
Chelsea Transfer News:
Over the last few seasons, Nicolo Barella has emerged as one of Europe’s top midfielders, and he featured for Inter Milan when they reached the Champions League final in 2022/23.
The Italian international has been highly linked with a move to the Premier League after scoring nine goals and dishing out ten assists in 52 appearances across all competitions in 22/23.
The 26-year-old has been linked with Liverpool in recent months, with the Reds reported to be looking for two or three midfielders this summer.
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The Telegraph, meanwhile, reported earlier this week that Newcastle were “closing in” on the signing of Nicolo Barella from Inter Milan.
According to them, Barella would cost £50 million, and James Maddison of Leicester City is Newcastle’s “other main target.”
Recently, on his YouTube channel, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano claimed that Liverpool has ‘always been following’ Barella and they are monitoring his situation.
However, according to Corriere Dello Sport, Chelsea is attempting to outbid their Premier League rivals in the race to capture Barella.
The Blues have ‘proposed an exchange’ in which Barella moves to Stamford Bridge and Romelu Lukaku moves in the opposite direction.
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Inter Milan ‘did not respond’ to this proposal, instead ‘postponing discussion to a later date’.
But it is said that the Italian giants are only interested in ‘monster offers’ for Barella, while they are keen on another loan deal for Lukaku and they ‘don’t intend to take other paths’.
Inter Milan will ‘have to listen’ if ‘an offer of a certain size’ arrives for Barella and it is claimed that ‘it must be in cash and even greater than €70 million [£60m]’.
Romano meanwhile is insistent that £50m is absolutely not enough” for Inter Milan to sell Barella.
“What I can tell you is that, for sure, there is interest from Newcastle and for sure Eddie Howe is a big fan of Nicolo Barella, they would love to sign Barella,” Romano said.
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“But they also know that at the moment for Inter £50m is absolutely not enough to sell Barella. They extended his contract, it was a few months ago.
“And so the idea of Inter is to keep Barella, no chance to sell Barella for £50m. They want way more than this to be tempted.
“So let’s see if Newcastle will try to improve their proposal or do something serious in the next days. For sure, they like the player, for sure they want the player but £50m, at the moment, is not enough.”
