After seeing a bid of around the range of 70 million euros for Willian (29-years-old approaching 30 in August) rejected by Chelsea, it became clear to Barcelona that they needed to look elsewhere.
The Blues stance on Willian is as a result of the arrival of Maurizio Sarri who sees the Brazilian as a crucial part of the team, compared to Conte who fell out with him.
Speaking after Chelsea’s friendly game with Perth Glory, Sarri said: “I’d like to talk to a person face by face. I don’t like to talk to a person by telephone. It’s a pleasure to have Courtois, to have Willian, to have Hazard, but [their future] doesn’t depend on me, not only on me. So, we have to wait. I’m confident.”
“I think that the press sell the players every single year.” he continued.
“They buy players, they sell players. I hope the trio can stay because they are fantastic players, fantastic talents and we need the best players in Chelsea. I speak to Willian almost every day, he loves to play for Chelsea. I think he’s going to stay.”
Barcelona moves on
Still on that late Monday evening when Sarri made his comments, Barcelona made their move for Malcom who was about to board a flight to Rome.
AS Roma had agreed a deal with Bordeaux to sign the player for a rumored 36 million euros, even though no document was signed yet.
Barcelona came in with an offer reportedly around the 41 million euros mark, forcing Bordeaux to contact the player to cancel his flight plans.
The offer from Barcelona seems to be very interesting and the Spanish radio have reported that Malcom’s agency, Elenko Sports, is already speaking with the club at Barcelona’s office.
Unbelievable – AS Roma fans were waiting at the airport to welcome Malcom & now he’s stuck in Bordeaux as Barcelona enter into 11th hour negotiations. (@Guillaumemp) pic.twitter.com/sDQeZfhJaf
— Get French Football News (@GFFN) July 23, 2018
Malcom in t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶i̶d̶d̶l̶e̶ Ligue 1 in 2017/18:
93 take-ons
92 fouls won
87 chances created
75 shots
12 goals
5 goals outside the box
7 assistspic.twitter.com/C9Gjn1Cr4N
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) July 23, 2018
