Pedro to Chelsea rumors escalating quickly, now involve Mourinho and Fabregas as well

While other rivals are signing crucial new pieces, hot young talents, and proper midfielders, we're apparently courting Barcelona's Pedro.  If that sounds a bit tragic to you, then welcome to my party.  We've got terrible leftover beer.  If the prospect of Pedro in a Chelsea shirt gets you excited however, well, then, I shan't be bothering your merriment.  Unfortunately, the main source is still SPORT (just like for the initial interest rumors from a few days ago), and their reputation, for me, has yet to recover from seriously trying to make Fernando Torres-to-Barca a thing.

The latest story goes that the 27-year-old (two weeks shy of turning 28) Pedro has changed his mind since agreeing to a new contract extension earlier this summer, though this development was perhaps not entirely unexpected as the new contract has a much lower buyout fee than the old one.  Even though Barca's summer signings can't play until January, the arrival of Arda Turan was reportedly the final straw. The new figure for Pedro's buyout is supposedly €30m (down from a rather ambitious €150m) and Chelsea are willing to simply pay it to avoid the hassles and delays of negotiations.

SPORT go on to claim that Jose Mourinho and Cesc Fàbregas were both personally involved (via telephone), and we all know what happens when Jose picks up that handset.  PSG, Arsenal, and Liverpool were all interested as well, but none of them possess the Mourinho phone-a-friend superpower and thus have fallen by the wayside.

That said, all the previous caveats still all apply.  Since Barca are stuck with the squad they have until January thanks to their transfer ban, it seems unreasonable to expect any major departures until then.  Not to mention, the Catalan club are coming up on their presidential elections this week, and so most of their business should only happen afterwards.  And Chelsea already have a glut of right wingers and attacking midfielders (at least until Cuadrado and Salah leave, if they'll leave).  And it's from SPORT.

But I suppose we can at least talk about it.