Stamford Bridge side ready to enter race for Goodison Park starlet.
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has been alerted by Everton’s apparent willingness to cash-in on young midfielder Ross Barkley.
Mourinho is known to be a big admirer of the 21 year old England man, who is said to be available for around £45m, and will look to continue to adopt a sensible transfer policy in order to fund such a bid.
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The west London side have financed moves for new additions in the past two transfer windows with funds accrued from sales of players Mourinho has deemed surplus to requirements.
The sales of Juan Mata, Romelu Lukaku and David Luiz alone have garnered over £100m and Mourinho is ready to consider offers for Andre Schurrle, Ramires and Mohamed Salah ahead of a summer bid for Barkley.
Chelsea are unlikely to sell all three unless further signings are made but the trio are all certainly seen by Mourinho as squad players and no longer first team regulars.
Man City are also known to be keen on Barkley though Chelsea’s relationship with Everton could aid their bid, having sold Lukaku to the Goodison Park side as well as loaned winger Chritian Atsu to the Toffees.
Mourinho is keen to plan for the future and believes Barkley has the potential to be a player of great merit and by the summer if Roberto Martinez’s side haven’t shown much improvement, and haven’t secured European football for next term, then the midfielder may well be ready to press ahead with a move to a side that can help his career progression.
Martinez would then have funds to bring in a number of players to help improve the overall quality of his Everton squad.
Of the three players Mourinho is willing to sell there is said to be genuine Inter Milan interest in Egyptian international Salah and Juventus have been linked with a move for Ramires.
World Cup winner Schurrle is also bound to have a number of prospective suitors and having made just five Premier League starts this term it’s likely that the 24 year old must be considering his options.