Chelsea are on the verge of making a £30million bid for Roma defender Mehdi Benatia, according to fresh reports in the Italian media.
La Gazzetta dello Sport claims the cash-rich west London outfit have performed a transfer U-turn, having declared in public that their incoming business was complete upon purchasing midfielder Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona.
The report suggests that boss Jose Mourinho has successfully convinced owner Roman Abramovich to part with more money in order to replace Brazil international David Luiz, who joined Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain earlier on in the summer.
They are now ready to rest Roma’s resolve to hang on to their star man, but must sell a foreign player in order to meet the quota imposed by the FA.
According to the report, goalkeeper Petr Cech or midfield man John Obi Mikel could be sacrificed.
Benatia is said to be determined to leave the Italian capital following a disagreement about the terms of his contract, with his representatives feeling the club went back on several promises made last term.
Roma are reportedly resigned to the fact that Benatia will not put pen to paper on a fresh contract extension and they have already started the process of drawing up a list of potential replacements.