PSG ‘in talks’ with Chelsea over Tiémoué Bakayoko — report

Tiémoué Bakayoko is just one of several players for whom Chelsea still need to find a new home, at least for next season though ideally beyond as well — though that latter part is not particularly likely in the current economic environment, so the best we can hope for in these situations is a loan with a buy-option (as opposed to, say, a €20m transfer).

That’s precisely the type of deal we’ve been exploring with AC Milan seemingly all summer, but Bakayoko looks no closer to (re-)joining the Rossoneri than he did at the start of the transfer window. Milan know that they’re the only game in town, and have been trying to get Chelsea to lower the fee. We’ve already given them the concession of just a €3m loan fee (instead of €5m), and have reportedly lowered the option to just €30m from €35-40m — as if they’d ever exercise it anyway, but I digress — but we seem to be no closer to an actual agreement.

So that’s where PSG come in, according to Téléfoot Chaine (via GFFN), who report that the Ligue 1 champions are “in talks” over the “possible” signing of the 26-year-old midfielder, who was their “Plan B” three months ago. They, too, want a lower option than €40m and a lower fee than €5m, but at this point, it would be nice to get anyone to pay any amount.

With just a couple weeks left in the window, it’s certainly time for all the plans of the alphabet.