According to a Fabrizio Romano “exclusive”, Chelsea have submitted a new bid for Rayo Vallecano left back Pep Chavarría yesterday. The two teams have been in talks for about a month now over the 28-year-old, with Chelsea initially meeting Rayo’s €15m asking price, but the La Liga side then moving the goalposts and wanting the Blues to pay the full release clause instead. That release clause may be as much as €45m now.
While it’s not specified what our new and improved bid may be, it’s presumably not anywhere
near €45m. At least I sure hope it’s not anywhere near that. Certainly not in a market where Marc Cucurella goes for €60m. A more reasonable number may be €25m — it’s on the edge of reason — which some reports also claim acceptable to Rayo.
Jorrel Hato is the only recognized left back in the first-team squad at the moment, with Academy youngster Landon Emenalo also seeing minutes in preseason. While I don’t necessarily mind that to stay the case for the season proper (even in a back-three setup), Chavarría is presumably being targeted to be the starter at that position instead.
