Monaco to launch £25 million bid for Chelsea defender

Mega-rich French outfit AS Monaco were recently knocked back with their attempt to sign Vicent Kompany from Manchester City, so have turned their attentions to Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic.

The Daily Mail reported that the Serbian defender has been recommended to the French club’s Russian owner Dmitry Rybolovlev by former Blue and now Monaco coach Claudio Ranieri, who has already signed Porto duo James Rodriguez and Joao Moutinho, with Radamel Falcao to follow.

It’s doubtful that Chelsea have any plans to sell the 29-year-old, who scored the winner in the Europa League final in Amsterdam, but that could change as Moncao are willing to offer a whopping £25 million for Ivanovic which is more than twice the amount that was paid to Lokomotiv Moscow to bring him to Stamford Bridge in 2008.

But the report goes on to say that manager-in-waiting Jose Mourinho is a big fan of Ivanovic, who he tried to sign for Real Madrid last season, and would prefer to sacrifice David Luiz than Ivanovic.

If the reports are true and Monaco are willing to offer £25m then it definitely gives Chelsea something to think about, especially as Ivanovic isn’t likely to be a starter next season at either right-back or in central defence as the latter is an area he’d probably want to strengthen.

It’s a lot of money and with Tomas Kalas and Kenneth Omeruo in the wings, we wouldn’t even have to pay to replace him if we was to accept as either of the aforementioned can backup in the two positions Ivanovic would normally occupy. The two youngster have impressed this season with Kalas helping Vitesse Arnhem to third place in the Dutch Eredivisie and Omeruo won the African Cup of Nations with Nigeria in the winter.

Should Monaco come in with a big money bid for Ivanovic, would it be wise to sell?

Source: Daily Mail