Sheth feels Chelsea were not willing to spend £40 million on Paredes
Chelsea backed out of the race to sign Zenit St.Petersburg’s Argentinian international midfielder Leandro Paredes because the Blues didn’t consider it worthwhile, claims Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth.
Sarri was reportedly keen to bring in a replacement for Cesc Fabregas who joined Monaco in January, with the Blues identifying Nicolo Barella and Leandro Paredes as the potential targets to provide for Jorginho in central midfield.
However, the Blues gave up their pursuit of Paredes, who joined PSG for a fee of £40 million and Sheth believes Chelsea were not ready to spend that kind of money to buy an understudy to Jorginho.
“Unless something is in the pipeline at the moment, it’s going to be very difficult to sort out a replacement for Cesc Fabregas,” he said on the Transfer Talk Podcast.
“The two players were mentioned, and they were serious targets and we understand there were talks held with both clubs about both players, were Leandro Paredes from Zenit St Petersburg and Nicolo Barella as well.
“The only issue, as with Gonzalo Higuain, the reservations there are at Chelsea above Sarri.
“I think they were looking at maybe Paredes and thinking ‘right, upwards of £40m for somebody who would effectively come in as a backup for Jorginho’.
“They are probably thinking if we’re going to spend that much money, he has to go straight into the team.
“I think Chelsea will likely go back and revisit this one in the summer.
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