Chelsea offered chance to outbid AC Milan for Bernard — report

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness), free agent Bernard has his sights set on AC Milan, but Chelsea are still in the picture thanks to the 25-year-old’s agents, who apparently decided to check one more time with the Blues, especially after the usual power-agent duo of Kia Joorabchian and Giuliano Bertolucci had gotten involved on our side. Those two are certainly familiar names when it comes to Chelsea’s Brazilians.

That said, Bernard’s representatives held talks with Milan on Tuesday, and while no deal was struck, they apparently went well. Bernard is set to be asking for £50k in net wages (so about double that in gross, which is the usual amount reported in England), and it sounds like the agents want to ensure that Milan agree to that by playing Chelsea off against them.

Meanwhile, Bernard himself, who’s been without a club since letting his contract expire at Shakhtar Donetsk in June, has been keeping up fitness by training with former club Atlético Mineiro (where young Nathan, also under the Bertolucci tent) signed on loan recently.

While Chelsea could certainly afford to outbid Milan, and Bernard might be a decent value signing, this sounds like little more than agent machinations to ensure that Milan agree to his demands.