Sunderland spent £6.5m on Emanuele Giaccherini three years ago, now they're basically giving him away for free. With just twelve months left on the midfielder's contract, Sunderland's asking price is only around £2m — this according to the Sunderland Echo, who also call out Giaccherini's agent for his little white lies about potential Chelsea interest in the 31-year-old.
...the Echo understands that Sunderland have yet to receive any enquiry from Chelsea and the Black Cats are not expecting one, despite their eagerness to offload Giaccherini this summer.
Giaccherini's camp have understandably encouraged talk of a reunion with Conte at Stamford Bridge, given the success that the pair have enjoyed working together. "Conte likes him a lot and Chelsea would be a dream," said his agent Furio Valcareggi earlier this week. But the probability is that Giaccherini will return to Italy after enjoying a successful loan spell with Bologna last season.
-source: Sunderland Echo
The problem for Sunderland are Giaccherini's wages, as he's apparently one of the top earners at the club. Bologna reportedly can't afford him again, but there's interest from the likes of Torino FC and Fiorentina. Pro-tip to Sunderland: stay away from Fiorentina.
Anyway, the key point here is that Sunderland haven't received and don't expect to receive any bid from Chelsea for Giaccherini, regardless of how well he meshes with Antonio Conte's tactics.
Good.