Chelsea will reportedly demand €50m to green light exits for Marcos Alonso and Olivier Giroud this month, with Inter said to be interested.
Giroud has been limited to a bit-part role this season, as the 33-year-old has made just seven appearances across all competitions thus far.
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As for Alonso, he hasn’t always been first choice at left-back, and so question marks have been raised over their respective futures at Stamford Bridge.
With Frank Lampard favouring his young stars so far this season and with Chelsea seeing their transfer ban reduced to allow them to sign new players in January, it could lead to exits for individuals perhaps considered surplus to requirements.
As reported by Calciomercato, via the paper edition of Corriere della Sera, Inter boss Antonio Conte is eyeing reunions with Alonso and Giroud, but it’s going to cost Inter a hefty sum of money to prise the pair away from Chelsea.
It’s suggested that the Spaniard will cost €40m, while Giroud could command a €10m price-tag, despite the fact that his current contract is set to expire at the end of the season.
That is a huge amount of money for the players in question, and so it remains to be seen if it’s enough to put Inter off and force them to look elsewhere for options considered better value for money.
In contrast, Conte knows what he’ll get from the Chelsea duo, and with Inter chasing a Serie A title this season in his first year in charge, he could be pushing for players he can rely on and knows are capable of making an immediate impact to give them a timely boost for the second half of the campaign.
Time will tell how the situation plays out, but Chelsea are clearly not in the mood to let their players go on the cheap, regardless of their current importance in Lampard’s squad.