\n<\/p>\n
Portuguese reports believe Chelsea are preparing to make their move for Diogo Costa. However, any deal already appears complicated by a significant difference in valuation.<\/strong><\/p>\n Local newspaper Morning Mail<\/strong> reports Chelsea are ready to begin talks with Porto over a transfer. However, the Blues have no intention of triggering Diogo Costa\u2019s \u20ac60m (\u00a351m) release clause.<\/p>\n Instead, the report claims Chelsea value the Portugal international at around \u20ac40m (\u00a334m), immediately creating a gap of approximately \u20ac20m (\u00a317m) between the two clubs before formal negotiations have even started.<\/p>\n The newspaper explains Chelsea\u2019s interest predates the World Cup. It also claims the tournament removed any remaining doubts.<\/p>\n According to Correio da Manh\u00e3, new head coach Xabi Alonso had admired Diogo Costa before the competition. Now he was left fully convinced after the goalkeeper\u2019s performances for Portugal.<\/p>\n The report adds that Alonso wants to build a Chelsea side capable of challenging Arsenal and Manchester City for the Premier League title and does not believe either Robert S\u00e1nchez or Filip J\u00f6rgensen provides the long-term solution he wants between the posts.<\/p>\n While Chelsea may be preparing to make their move, Porto are showing little willingness to negotiate.<\/p>\n Correio da Manh\u00e3 state president Andr\u00e9 Villas-Boas has no intention of reducing the asking price, particularly after Diogo Costa\u2019s outstanding World Cup campaign further strengthened his market value.<\/p>\n Porto also know Chelsea are not the only club keeping a close eye on the situation.<\/p>\n The newspaper says Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich continue to be associated with the goalkeeper. As a result, this gives Porto little reason to soften their stance.<\/p>\n Recent reports in Portugal have consistently maintained there has still been no formal proposal submitted for Diogo Costa.<\/p>\n Over recent weeks, Portuguese reports have focused on Chelsea\u2019s interest<\/strong> and the goalkeeper\u2019s World Cup displays<\/strong>. Additionally, they highlight Porto\u2019s determination to keep their captain.<\/p>\n Now, attention is shifting towards the financial side of a potential deal.<\/p>\n With Chelsea reportedly preparing to open negotiations while valuing Diogo Costa at around \u20ac40m (\u00a334m), and Porto refusing to entertain offers below the \u20ac60m (\u00a351m) release clause, the coming weeks are likely to determine whether the two clubs can bridge that \u20ac20m (\u00a317m) gap or whether it proves too significant to overcome.<\/p>\n \n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Portuguese reports believe Chelsea are preparing to make their move for Diogo Costa. However, any…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Xabi Alonso is fully convinced<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Porto refusing to compromise<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Negotiations heating up<\/strong><\/h2>\n