Chelsea are prepared to demand in excess of £25m to sell centre-back Kurt Zouma, amid reported interest from Roma.
The 26-year-old tumbled down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge following the arrival of Thomas Tuchel, making just nine appearances in the Premier League across the second half of the campaign, many of which were enforced through injuries to other defenders.
With Chelsea on the hunt for a new centre-back this summer, it was recently reported that Zouma is expected to leave the Bridge before the new season begins, and now RMC Sport's Loic Tanzi has added that a fee of £25m will be needed to get the job done.
The news of the asking price comes amid links to Roma and a reunion with Jose Mourinho, with whom he worked at Chelsea between 2014 and 2015. The boss was also tipped to move for Zouma during his time with Tottenham last year.
Roma are expected to push for a loan move for Zouma, but that does not work for Chelsea, who would rather sell him outright to help fund the £150m bid for Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland, which 90min first revealed is expected to arrive imminently.
Adding to all the fun of the Roma links are suggestions that Chelsea could well be interested in the Giallorossi's 25-year-old defender Gianluca Mancini.
Chelsea have been rumoured to move for Mancini for a while now, but the idea recently resurfaced thanks to Il Romanista, who float the idea of a swap deal.
It's not a particularly convincing story, particularly since it constantly refers back to mysterious English sources. Calciomercato do the same, but go as far as to suggest that these English sources believe Mourinho would demand an extra £10m if he was to swap Zouma for Mancini.
There's obviously a ridiculous amount of speculation here, so maybe don't take it as gospel just yet, but what does seem certain is that Zouma's days at Chelsea are numbered.
Chelsea are looking for a new centre-back, but links to Mancini have been few and far between. Instead, most of the recent focus is on Sevilla's Jules Kounde, and it was recently suggested that the Blues are at the front of the queue for the highly-rated defender's signature.
Source : 90min