Where Chelsea once just ... would ... not ... let ... go ... of the European Cup, we now just ... would ... not ... let ... go of Willian, even though Barcelona continue to insist on bidding silly amounts of cash and/or players on him.
In the summer, they had reportedly bid £60+ million. Now, they reportedly bid cash+Malcom, totaling around £50m. We though that last bit was absolute nonsense and tabloid fabrication, but the Telegraph’s Jason Burt is reporting that it was very much real.
And it’s been very much rejected by Chelsea, because why make things easy for ourselves.
Chelsea reject Barcelona bid for Willian – and offer of Brazilian forward Malcom. @JBurtTelegraph reports - https://t.co/alAT7yymPj
— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) January 10, 2019
According to the report, Chelsea believe Willian to be worth more than £50m even though he only has 18 months left on his contract ... though it doesn’t sound like we’d want to sell him even if Barcelona came in with straight cash. He’s a “key member” of the squad and we are “looking to strengthen” — which sounds like short-hand for sacrificing long-term planning for short-term dubious gains.
Again.