Chelsea are ready to offer an initial five-year contract to Matthijs de Ligt if he completes a summer transfer from Juventus, according to reports.
The 22-year-old is wanted by Thomas Tuchel as part of his Chelsea rebuild which could see up to six players arrive at Stamford Bridge this summer.
“We are rebuilding, not improving the squad. We are rebuilding,” said Tuchel at the end of last season.
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De Ligt is the number one target for the Blues head coach and seen as key, along with Man City's Nathan Ake, to the new-look Chelsea defence for next season as a result of the departures of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen.
Talks are ongoing between the clubs over a transfer fee, with De Ligt heavily reported to want to make the switch to west London as per claims in England and Italy, while reports in Germany suggest he wants to join Bayern Munich.
However, Bayern won’t pay the asking price with Juventus holding out for between €80-100 million for the Dutch international.
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Chelsea are hoping to clinch the signings of Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling and a central defender before they depart on Saturday for their pre-season tour of the United States.
Chelsea have already seen a proposal of a player-plus-cash deal rejected by the Old Lady for De Ligt.
But there is confidence a deal can be struck and now as reported by Calciomercato in Italy, the Blues’ plans for personal terms have been reported.
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They are suggested to be ready to hand the centre-back a five-year deal, with the options of a further year, worth in the region of €12-13 million net plus bonuses.
The Blues are readying a proposal of around €75 million for De Ligt but it is likely to be rejected as negotiations continue.
De Ligt has two years left on his current deal in Italy which has a €120 million release clause, but Juventus have accepted that he wants to leave and are ready to soften their stance which has seen the asking price reduced.
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Todd Boehly and the rest of the hierarchy are doing everything they can to back Tuchel in the transfer market, with key areas identified to improve the squad.
"The key is to basically work with Tuchel to come up with the best players that are available,” a senior source told The Telegraph last month.
"We really want to make sure we have a good defence. We've got depth in midfield. We're not desperate for an out-and-out striker.
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“Fortunately, there's reasonable opportunities in the market right now in order to satisfy the fans' desire to be competitive.
"I think it's a combination of moves and there's five or six that we're going to look to make.”
Despite no confirmation of any new signings yet, they will arrive through the doors. It’s now a matter of when, not if, and Chelsea will be keen to get their first signing confirmed sooner rather than later to give them as much time to settle in before the 2022/23 season.
Topics: Matthijs De Ligt, Chelsea, Juventus
Matthew Debono