Chelsea co-sporting director Lawrence Stewart has “offered” Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Trevoh Chalobah in a potential swap deal for Juventus’s Dusan Vlahovic, according to Calciomercato.com.
The Italian website claim that the proposal was made by Stewart at a “recent meeting” in London with Juve’s new sporting director Giovanni Manna in attendance.
It is believed that the offer was not rejected out of hand, and that manager Max Allegri will be given the chance to decide on whether he wants any of the three players.
The impending departures of Angel Di Maria and Adrien Rabiot mean that the likes of Pulisic and Loftus-Cheek could be considered as replacements for the pair. Chalobah could also be looked at as an option to strengthen the Bianconeri’s defence.
Why offering all three players for Vlahovic makes sense
Christian Pulisic has a year left on his contract at Stamford Bridge, and most reports have put his asking price at around £20m. Ruben Loftus-Cheek is also closing in on the final twelve months of his current deal and is likely to be worth around the £20m to £25m mark.
Chalobah, meanwhile could also fetch a similar figure and, with Vlahovic valued at around €80m (£69m), the maths does work out.
With Chelsea keen to reduce the size of their first team squad, and the club wanting to sign a new number nine, this could kill two birds with one stone.
Will the Chelsea trio be interested in moving to Juventus?
Pulisic is keen on leaving the Blues to get more first team football and, with Juve said to be among his potential suitors anyway, the American international would probably be very open to a move to Turin.
There are more doubts about Loftus-Cheek. AC Milan had been close to agreeing a deal for the 27-year-old but they have cooled their interest, so there is a chance that he would join another Italian club if the Rossoneri don’t come back in for him.
Chalobah has been linked with Juventus’s rivals Inter so he may prefer a move to the San Siro, considering they have Champions League football next season.
