Report: Filipe Luis deal stalls as Chelsea and Atletico Madrid wrangle over the transfer fee

Time for your weekly Filipe Luis update.  And, well, there's a whole lot of nothing happening.  At least away from the public eye.

The deal has been stalled for almost a month now.  Atletico had gone ahead and even signed a replacement.  But Filipe Luis is refusing to pay the buyout, Chelsea are refusing to pay the buyout, and Atletico are refusing to budge on the buyout.  And so we sit and wait.  Meanwhile, with preseason less than two weeks away, we have exactly four players of appropriate caliber for four positions:  Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, Azpilicueta - the rest are either too young or are about to be sold or loaned.

"Filipe Luis is likely to remain at Atlético de Madrid, at least if there is no significant change on the first offer made by Chelsea for the full-back which was no more than €15 million.  The clause in the Brazilian's contract is fixed at a figure slightly higher than €24 million and for Atlético that figure is not negotiable, neither for the transfer of Filipe Luis or any other player in their squad."

"Atlético's anger over the issue has been doubled by the way Filipe communicated his decision to not accept a much-improved contract and make it clear he wants to leave the club. Atlético understand by that decision that the player has already made up his mind about London being his next destination."

-source: Marca

Let's sort this out, shall we?  If Filipe Luis can't be had at £12m (at which price point -- an almost €10m discount on his buyout clause -- he becomes a much more desirable option), then we need to expand our search radius beyond just Atlético Madrid and perhaps Spain as well.  Can James Rodriguez play left back?