Football Transfer News: Barcelona Set to Make £83M Bid for Chelsea Triumvirate
Spanish La Liga powerhouse Barcelona is reportedly preparing to make a gigantic 83 million pound offer to English Premier League superpower Chelsea in an attempt to overhaul its roster this coming offseason, a reliable source disclosed on Wednesday.
Football Web site CaughtOffside broke the news about Camp Nuo's intention to bring in goalkeeper Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois, Brazilian international David Luiz, and midfielder combatant Ramires.
"CaughtOffside understands that the Catalan giants are set to offload a number of players this summer as they look to finance big money moves and the La Liga side hope to lure three players from Stamford Bridge," the site reported.
Barcelona is reportedly interested to bring in the young goaltender in Courtois, who has been playing well for the Atletico Madrid on loan. According to CaughtOffside, there's a big chance that Jose Mourinho would let Courtois walk away because he still considers Peter Cech as his no.1 man between the posts.
"Jose Mourinho may be open to cashing in on Courtois as he continues to see Petr Cech as his undisputed number one starter and the fact that their young Belgian is still yet to play a single senior fixture for the West London club, almost three years since signing for Chelsea, would appear to suggest he is a player they can afford to consider offers for."
Meanwhile, Barcelona also sets their sight on Luiz, who could be the heir apparent to long-time Barca defender Carles Puyol. Barca has only made a 25-million pound offer to the former Benfica player and is planning to jack up their offer this coming offseason.
Similarly Brazilian international David Luiz is seen by Barcelona as a possible long-term successor to centre-back Carles Puyol, with the 35-year-old also publicly announcing his intention to call time on his career at Barca.
The third target Barcelona wants to have is the 27-year-old Ramires, who could replace Alex Song and Javier Mascherano. However, Mourinho is believed to be adamant in losing the players that already had 200 appearance with the Blues.
According to the source, Barcelona is very much ready to put their massive offer on the table. The offer for the trio is reportedly worth s €100m (£83m).