Juventus chief Maurizio Arrivabene has opened the door for Matthijs de Ligt to join Chelsea this summer - after admitting that it is "impossible" to keep a player who wants to leave the club.
De Ligt joined the Italian giants in a huge £67.8million deal back in 2019, but has struggled to live up to expectations in Turin. However, Juventus have still been keen to tie the former Ajax captain down to a bumper new deal; something that De Ligt reportedly has no interest in.
The 22-year-old still has two years left on his current, but is being courted extensively by Blues boss Thomas Tuchel, who is looking to rebuild his defence after losing both Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen this summer.
Despite Juventus' recent attempts to tie De Ligt down to a new deal, Arrivabene appears to have paved the way for the defender to leave the club - if their demands are met. The Juve CEO told Tuttosport : "It’s impossible to keep players when they want to leave the club – but all the three parties in the negotiations have to be satisfied."
Chelsea have already tried to firm up their interest in De Ligt, however, they have so far been unable to put together an adequate financial package. The Dutchman reportedly has a €120m (£103m) release clause in his contract; a figure the Blues are unwilling to meet.
Earlier this week, The Daily Mail revealed that Chelsea had tried to offer up the services of Christian Pulisic in a bid to drive down the overall cost of any deal. Timo Werner has also been mentioned as a potential makeweight in any deal, although Juventus have rebuffed all the approaches they have received so far for De Ligt.
Join the debate! Do you think that De Ligt would be a good signing for Chelsea? Let us know here.
The Londoners are yet to make a signing under new co-owner Todd Boehly, whose £4.25bn takeover was rubber-stamped at the end of May. Chelsea have been linked with a host of names in recent weeks, including Richarlison, who now looks set to join Tottenham.
As well as rebuilding his defence, Tuchel is also eager to shake up his striking options after sanctioning club-record flop Romelu Lukaku's temporary return to Inter Milan, which was wrapped up earlier this week.
After missing out on Richarlison, the Blues are seemingly determined to acquire both Raphinha and Raheem Sterling in big-money deals. Chelsea have reportedly struck a £55m deal with Leeds United for the former, will both the Blues and Manchester City are 'confident' that a deal will be reached for Sterling in the coming days.
