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Confirmed: Chelsea in talks to complete €120m January signing
3 min read
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Chelsea are in “fresh talks” with Bournemouth over a deal to sign England midfielder Alex Scott during the upcoming winter transfer window.
Xabi Alonso’s side earmarked Scott as their preferred replacement for Enzo Fernandez over the summer, but they were unable to finalise a deal before Deadline Day and they were ultimately left empty-handed in their pursuit of a new midfielder.
It was initially understood that Bournemouth had ruled out the prospect of selling Scott in January, amid their bid for Europa League glory, but they have now relaxed their stance following lengthy talks with the 23-year-old’s representatives.
Scott has turned down several contract extension offers from Bournemouth and the Cherries are willing to sanction a deal during the mid-season window if their asking price of €120 million (£100m) is met.
This has been confirmed by transfer reporter Ben Jacobs, who has revealed that Chelsea are “increasingly confident” of signing the 23-year-old in January.
It’s reported that talks are underway between the two clubs, with Scott emerging as Chelsea’s dream midfield signing ahead of fellow targets Manu Kone (AS Roma) and Lamine Camara (AS Monaco).
Meanwhile, Chelsea journalist Simon Phillips has admitted that a January transfer is regarded as “inevitable,” with Scott now expected to join the Stamford Bridge outfit before the end of the winter window.
What have Bournemouth said?
While Chelsea are confident of finalising an agreement to sign Scott, Bournemouth are still hopeful of retaining their star midfielder.
Widespread reports confirm that Scott has turned down the chance to become Bournemouth’s highest-paid player, but owner Bill Foley wants the club to regularly offer contracts worth at least £100,000 per week.
“I think earning that kind of number should be commonplace, and we should be prepared to meet that challenge,” he admitted during an interview with talkSPORT last week.
“At this point, we're convinced we're the right place for Alex to be and to stay, and we'll keep on addressing the contract issues with Alex as we move through this year.
“We'd love to have Alex stay here and sign a new contract and be part of this team for the long haul.
“We haven't given up, but sometimes players get stars in their eyes, and they think that Chelsea or Manchester City is the right place to go.”
Foley continued: “We believe, if we keep on buying infrastructure and a common thread of leadership across the team then we will start keeping more and more players.
“People will be surprised about that, and they'll be able to earn substantial wages here.
“We have to respect the fact that a lot of our players are younger, and they've come to Bournemouth with the expectation that they'll get time to play and perhaps move on to a bigger team.
“We recognise that my job is to make players feel comfortable and provide them with the infrastructure they need to understand that.
“We're serious about what we're doing. We're in a brand new performance centre and it is as state of the art as they come.
“We're happy with where we are and we believe we'll start making progress in terms of retaining key talent. It may not be this year, it may not be next year in terms of everyone, but we're close.
“We have to prove to the players this is a place they want to be and that they want to stay and they don't want to move on because that's the way we really build a successful team.”
