Paris Saint-Germain are believed to be closing in on a deal to sign Porto's Alex Telles, who has been heavily linked with a move to Chelsea this summer.
Telles will enter the final year of his contract next season and is expected to be sold, and it has been widely reported that Chelsea see him as the answer to their struggles at left-back.
However, according to GaúchaZH Tricolor, it is PSG who have jumped in and struck a deal for Telles, and it is expected to be completed in the coming days for a fee of around €25m.
Not much is said about the deal, and there are no other reports suggesting PSG are so close to an agreement, but it is worth noting that GaúchaZH are close to Brazilian side Grêmio, who will profit from Telles' next move because of a clause agreed when they sold the left-back in 2014.
The suggested fee of between €20m and €25m does seem surprisingly low. Porto's asking price was initially rumoured to be around that mark, but reports in Portugal quickly began to stress that the club were holding out for closer to his €40m release clause.
It seems possible that this could be an attempt to drum up more interest in Telles and scare Chelsea into starting a bidding war to earn cash-strapped Porto as much money as possible, but there could be some truth in there somewhere. It's one to keep an eye on.
It's noted that Porto are looking to replace Telles with Grêmio's Juninho Capixaba, so it seems like they are preparing to say goodbye to their current first-choice defender.
For Chelsea, missing out on Telles would come as a huge blow. Finding a new left-back is on Frank Lampard's agenda, although it has been confirmed to 90min that the intention is to prioritise finding a centre-back and striker instead.
Telles is one of the options being discussed at Stamford Bridge, but Leicester City's Ben Chilwell remains their dream target. However, the Foxes are expected to hold out for a huge fee of around £80m as they do not want to sell.
It's that figure which pointed Chelsea to Telles, but the Blues may have to look for yet another option if PSG have won the race for the 27-year-old's signature.
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Source :
90min
