Chelsea 'offered' to exchange two players to secure Rafael Leao transfer

In a bid to sign AC Milan star Rafael Leao last summer, Chelsea reportedly proposed to exchange two out-of-favour forwards for the winger.

Last year, the Blues reportedly attempted to lure Leao to West London - but the Serie A team were having none of it.

Chelsea bosses Behad Eghbali and Todd Boehly apparently tried to tempt the 23-year-old to move to the Premier League and were willing to do anything to snap him up, even going as far as swapping two players to secure him.

According to The Athletic, Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech were offered up to AC Milan.

Despite being offered both the USA and Moroccan internationals, Stefano Pioli simply wasn’t interested.

Instead, the Rossoneri boss wanted Chelsea to pay Leao’s £131 million release clause.

Unfortunately, the Blues had actually only valued the winger at around £87million and weren’t willing to pay the expensive buyout price.

It’s rumoured that they went after him again in January but the enquiry was also shot down.

Since then, the Portuguese international has signed a new five-year contract with the Italian club and according to reports, the £131 million release clause remains in place.

However, the forward is now under contract until 2028 — which is great news for the Serie A team, but not so much for Chelsea.

The reportedly offered players, Pulisic and Ziyech, have seriously struggled for game time this season.

Speed Media/Zuma Press/PA Images)

The pair have started 10 and nine games respectively and have ultimately failed to make a real impact.

Pulisic only has a year left on his existing contract and, at this moment in time, there are no plans in place to renew those terms while elsewhere, Ziyech has a further two years left on his deal.

Earlier this year, it was reported that the 30-year-old was due to go out on loan to Paris Saint-Germain only for the deadline-day documents not to be registered in time.

While Pulisic and Ziyech have been omitted from many of Chelsea's recent starting lineups under Frank Lampard, Leao has been left out of matchday squads for a different reason.

He’s been absent with an apparent adductor problem which forced him to miss the first Champions League semi-final first leg defeat to Inter last week.

AC Milan were beaten by rivals Inter Milan 2-0 and it’s not known whether the winger will be fit enough to play in tomorrow's second leg.