Chelsea boss Antonio Conte reportedly met with Arturo Vidal on Boxing Day as he looks to secure a reunion with the former Juventus midfielder.
The pair spent a successful stint together in Turin prior to Vidal’s move to Bayern Munich last year as they won three consecutive Serie A titles. With Conte moving on and finding himself building something potentially special at Stamford Bridge, he is eyeing a second run with his former charge.
According to The Sun, the Italian tactician is ready to give up on his primary target Radja Nainggolan, with the Roma midfield ace’s £51.5m asking price proving to be too much for the Premier League pacesetters.
Having switched their focus elsewhere, Vidal has emerged as the next best option and armed with the £60m that they received in the sale of Oscar to Shanghai SIPG, Chelsea are said to be ready to launch a £34m bid for the Chilean international although Bayern could hold out for £40m.
It appears to be a much more realistic deal with room for compromise and so Vidal could well find himself in London before too long with just days to go before the January transfer window opens for business.
The report claims that he spoke with Conte on Boxing Day and so the move appears to hinge on whether or not an agreement can be reached between the two clubs.
Carlo Ancelotti won’t want to lose a player of the quality of Vidal, but a sale would give him funds to sign his own top targets in January and so time will tell as to whether there is a chance for Conte to swoop and bolster his squad further to try and sustain his side’s impressive start to the campaign.