Valencia chief denies Chelsea interest in promising full-back

Joe Williams

Valencia general manager Mateu Alemany knows nothing about Chelsea’s reported interest in their right-back Joao Cancelo.

The promising full-back has been linked with a move to the west London club with Antonio Conte wanting some competition for Victor Moses at the back.

The Daily Telegraph claims that Paris Saint-Germain defender Serge Aurier and Cancelo are the two players that Conte has his eye on.

However, Alemany claims there has been no interest in Cancelo and revealed that the Spanish side were aiming for four more transfers this summer.

When talking about Valencia’s remaining business in the last month of the transfer window, Alemany said: “We are very close to concluding the deal for [Jeison] Murillo, who wants to come to Valencia, but for [Geoffrey] Kondogbia, things are a bit more slow, but we are hopeful of concluding a deal. We still have to wait, Inter pay him a lot, and that’s not easy.

“I’m convinced we will make four more purchases, but [Ezequiel] Garay is close to [joining] a Russian club while I know nothing about Chelsea wanting Cancelo.”

Cancelo joined Valencia from Benfica on an initial loan deal three years ago and has now made more than 90 appearances for the La Liga outfit.