Stamford Bridge side to tempt Toffees into selling midfielder.
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Chelsea will look to tempt Everton into considering the sale of prized asset Ross Barkley by offering Toffees boss Roberto Martinez striker Romelu Lukaku and a significant cash sum in exchange for the England international.
CaughtOffside understands that Blues boss Jose Mourinho sees the 20 year old midfielder as an ideal long term replacement for veteran Frank Lampard and is willing to sacrifice Belgian Lukaku to help win the race to sign a player who is likely to be high up on a number of top sides wish-lists.
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Barkley is having a standout campaign this term, making 38 appearances in all competitions, and could well secure a spot in Roy Hodgson’s 2014 World Cup finals squad which could well generate even more interest in the Liverpudlian.
Lukaku has been in fine form during his loan season at Goodison Park, netting 14 goals in 28 top tier starts, and could well have made himself invaluable to Martinez.
Mourinho will hope that a firm bid for his services will encourage Barkley to push for an Everton exit which seems all the more likely now that the club have failed in their mission to secure a Champions League berth.
Chelsea had been pursuing Southampton’s Adam Lallana but Mourinho has scouted Barkley on a number of occasions and is now ready to switch attention to the Everton man who he feels is a player who could serve the club well for a lengthy spell.
Such a move makes good use of Lukaku to drive down the cost of Barkley and Mourinho will look to adopt a sensible approach to his squad rebuilding plans so as to adhere to UEFA’s FFP (Financial Fair Play) guidelines.
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