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.

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.

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 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.

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.