Chelsea keen to land £21m transfer target but must fend off Euro giants

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Chelsea are reportedly keen to beat former manager Antonio Conte and Inter to the signing of Marash Kumbulla this summer.

This is according to L’Arena (via Express), who cite that the Blues are prepared to pay up to £21m for the Hellas Verona defender.

SEE MORE: Chelsea join Euro giants in the race to sign La Liga starlet with €8m release clause

Kumbulla has enjoyed a breakthrough season with the Serie A side, featuring eighteen times in the league, in what has been his senior debut campaign for the club.

The report also cites Inter Milan in being interested though, with Chelsea potentially losing to ruin Conte’s transfer plans. It appears that the Serie A club are leading the chase, having already started negotiations with the player’s representatives.

Chelsea are reportedly keen to bolster their defensive options for next season, but they will need to act fast to convince Kumbulla to join.

Frank Lampard currently has a number of options available to him in that department, including the likes of Antonio Rudiger, Fikayo Tomori, Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen.

In turn, should they step up their pursuit of Kumbulla, they may well have to make space for him in the squad, while they do currently have the worst defensive record of the top seven sides in the Premier League and so that would suggest improvements are needed in that area of the squad to shore things up at the back.

Meanwhile, Conte spent two seasons with the Blues, delivering the Premier League title in his first season in charge. Now though, it looks as though the two parties could be set to clash on the transfer market.

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