Chelsea are considering paying the €40m (£35.3m) termination clause for Barcelona midfielder Sergi Roberto, according to FCBarcelonaNoticias.com.
The Catalan website reports that the Blues are keeping a close eye on Roberto’s contract negotiations with Barca, and could make their move if talks do stall. They say that there is currently some disagreement between the 25 year old and the club over the new deal with small differences over the player’s salary.
If these differences can’t be resolved then Barcelona are concerned that they could lose the Spanish international to Chelsea for the player’s current release clause. The La Liga club are in the middle of negotiating new deals for a lot of players to prevent them from leaving the club for their buyout fees like Neymar did in the summer.
Previous reports suggested that Barca wanted to increase Roberto’s termination clause tenfold to €400m, to prevent the midfielder from leaving. Still, the player remains available for €40m, and although it is believed the Spaniard is happy to remain at Barcelona, negotiations to extend his stay beyond 2019 have not yet reached a successful conclusion.
