Chelsea in talks with Pedro Porro

Chelsea are in talks with Pedro Porro’s agent to sign the Sporting CP right-back, valued at £40 million, with Tottenham also keen.

According to Give Me Sport, Chelsea have entered the chase for Pedro Porro. Sporting CP continues to demand his £40 million (€45 million) release clause to let the right-back depart, making things complicated for suitors. The Blues are now in the market for a player in the position after facing plenty of problems internally.

Chelsea are far from done with their transfer forays in January. Since the American consortium led by Todd Boehly completed a protracted takeover last summer, the Blues have spent significantly on various players. They could take their spending to a potential £500 million mark if they are to get all their targets.

Boehly proved instrumental in agreeing on a deal for Christopher Nkunku before switching his attention towards signing Andrey Santos and David Fofana. Then Benoit Badiashile arrived from Monaco this month, and finally, Chelsea agreed on a loan move for Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid.

Boehly has now switched his attention towards solving a real problem in the squad, which is the right back slot. Manager Graham Potter has been without Reece James for a few months and unsuccessfully experimented with plenty of ideas at right wing-back.

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He has used Raheem Sterling, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Christian Pulisic as wing-back, but all those ideas have backfired. Cesar Azpilicueta remains the only realistic option on that side, but with games coming thick and fast, the experienced Spaniard may be ill-equipped to play them all.

Hence, they are looking into the market for a new option and have stumbled across a few names. Denzel Dumfries was on their list early on, but considering Inter Milan would demand a high fee, they might have backed out. Similarly, they were interested in Jeremie Frimpong and now entered the chase for Pedro Porro.

The 23-year-old Sporting CP star has been in the news for a few weeks now, with Tottenham considering a move for the Spaniard. He left Man City in 2020 and has become a key player for the Portuguese side. However, Sporting boss Ruben Amorim recently insisted suitors have to pay Porro’s £40 million (€45 million) release clause to sign the player.

Sporting are unwilling to negotiate, although Tottenham reportedly planned to reduce the asking price. Now, Chelsea are in the race for the player and has opened talks with his agent.

Chelsea wants a new right back and could hijack a move for the £40 million-rated Tottenham target. Whether they are willing to pay the release clause remains the question. However, the Blues might find it tough with the FFP rules to pay up the entire amount in one go, and hence there are chances they could deploy a tactic of paying slightly more to structure payments.

They were willing to use a similar strategy for their now-failed move for Enzo Fernandez. However, signing Porro would prove a complicated affair, considering the player already gave his green light to sign for Tottenham.