Paper Talk: Big-name star rejects chance to follow Werner to Chelsea

Chelsea look set to miss out on the signing of a top midfielder despite meeting his asking price, while Steven Gerrard is looking to bring another Liverpool man to Rangers, according to Monday’s paper gossip.

 

PJANIC REJECTS CHANCE TO JOIN CHELSEA

Frank Lampard’s hopes of adding the craft and guile of Bosnia midfielder Miralem Pjanic to his Chelsea midfield have fallen short.

The Blues have stunned the football world by seemingly winning the race to sign Timo Werner after meeting his £53m exit clause and tempting the RB Leipzig striker to London with a giant financial package.

A report over the weekend claimed the Blues wanted to follow up his signing with a deal to sign both Ben Chilwell and Jeremie Boga, but now it has emerged that the player next in their sights was in fact Juventus star Pjanic.

However, despite the statement of intent shown by Chelsea in landing Werner, it has not been enough to convince Pjanic to join him at Stamford Bridge.

According to Marca, via the Daily Express, Chelsea were ready to meet the £45million valuation on Pjanic’s head.

However, the midfielder has rejected the chance to move there, as well as fellow suitors PSG.

 

That’s because, as per the report, Pjanic only has eyes on Barcelona and they are the only club he will consider joining if he leaves Juve.

But the report claims Lampard is intent on strengthening his central midfield and will turn to other targets instead.

That could be after it was claimed on Saturday that both Ross Barkley and Jorginho could be among seven exits at the Bridge this summer.

 

AND MORE GOSSIP

Chelsea are sweating on winger Pedro signing a temporary deal to help the club through Project Restart (The Sun)

Arsenal have suffered a major blow in their pursuit of Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard as a replacement for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (The Sun)

Tottenham have pulled out of a move for Italy midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo because of Roma’s £62m valuation (Daily Star)

Rangers boss Steven Gerrard is eyeing up a loan move for Liverpool striker Rhian Brewster (The Scottish Sun)

Rhian Brewster

Ajax chief Edwin van der Sar has confirmed Manchester United and Real Madrid are interested in Donny van de Beek – but has warned that a cut price sale is not on the cards (Daily Mirror)

Manchester United defender Brandon Williams is at the centre of a battle between two agents who want to sign him (Daily Mirror)

Napoli will not lower their £100m valuation of centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly, who has been linked with Manchester United (Daily Mirror)

Statistics from 11 top-flight clubs show players are no longer getting close to each other during water breaks and before free-kick routines (Daily Mirror)

Leicester are employing the same tactic over Ben Chilwell that they used to secure a record fee for Harry Maguire (Daily Mirror)

Manchester United and Real Madrid are reportedly monitoring Lautaro Martinez as talks between Barcelona and Inter Milan for the striker have reached a stumbling block (Daily Mirror)

Manchester City and UEFA will square off at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in a battle which could shape the future of European football (Daily Mail)

 

Ballboys are not likely to return when top-flight football does, with each club expected to nominate members of their ground and maintenance staff to carry out the role (Daily Mail)

Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich have joined the list of clubs pursuing Hearts defender Aaron Hickey (Daily Mail)

Manchester City are prepared to join the race for Ben Chilwell when the transfer window opens at the end of the season (Daily Telegraph)

Jose Mourinho has lined up a friendly for his Tottenham side to face Norwich on Friday as he steps up plans to resume the season later this month (Daily Telegraph)