Chelsea are reportedly set to start the bidding around the £34m mark as they attempt to bring Arturo Vidal from Bayern Munich to Stamford Bridge.
That is according to The Sun, who claim that Blues manager Antonio Conte wants to be reunited with the 29-year-old with whom he shared a great relationship at former club Juventus.
Vidal and Conte won three Serie A titles while working together in Turin and they have each spoken positively about one another since leaving the Italian giants.
The Sun quote Vidal from last March as saying: “If I go to war I would take Conte with me.”
Conte’s reply, per The Sun, was: “Arturo Vidal said he’d take me to war with him? I’d take Vidal too.
“He’s an amazing player. I must admit at Juve, I found him hard to fit in.
“In my head, I wanted to play a 4-2-4 and 4-4-2, but seeing the intensity of Vidal getting up and down the pitch, I switched to 4-3-3 which then transformed into 3-5-2.
“He has extraordinary physical and technical attributes, if I get to coach him a little more it’d be fantastic. I want him on all my teams.”
Chelsea’s bid of £34m may not be enough, with The Sun reporting that Bayern plan to hold out for a fee in the region of £40m.
Having just sold Oscar for significantly more, Chelsea can presumably afford to stretch to £40m, but it remains to be seen if they will be prepared to pay that much for a 29-year-old.
Vidal will be 30 in May.
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