Chelsea made an offer of €20million (£17.7m) for Porto left back Alex Telles in the January transfer window, according to Record.
The Portuguese newspaper reports that Porto were fearing that the Blues could have returned with a bid that met the Brazilian’s release clause, but the London club did not make another offer.
Telles was one of the targets that Chelsea were pursuing to provide competition for Marcos Alonso, with Juventus’s Alex Sandro and Augsburg’s Philipp Max also on the club’s radar.
The Porto full back has a reported buyout clause of €40m, and it seems the Blues opted for the cheaper option of Emerson Palmieri instead.
They signed the Roma defender on deadline day for an initial €20m, but it seems that once again manager Antonio Conte has had to settle for a player who wasn’t among his top targets at the start of the transfer window.
While Palmieri has spent most of the season out injured or on the subs bench, Telles has made 32 appearances for Porto, scoring one goal and providing 16 assists.
