Chelsea have overtaken Inter Milan in the race for Atalanta’s Marco Palestra.
Earlier this month, Sport Witness covered claims from Italy of Chelsea’s approach for the right-back, who can also operate as a left-back and left wing-back.
At that time, Inter Milan were in the lead, and they were confident of completing the deal.
There’s been a new twist in this saga after Chelsea made a decisive push to sign him.
Chelsea double Inter Milan’s salary offer
Xabi Alonso considers the 21-year-old to be important for his project and has held talks in the last few hours.
That’s according to Sport Mediaset, who claim the Blues have made concrete advances.
Inter Milan, who offered €2.5m per salary, have been negotiating with his agent since Monday.
Chelsea are proposing a six-year deal worth €5m plus bonuses. Their formal bid of €55m plus €5m bonuses for Atalanta should arrive on Wednesday morning.
La Dea and the fullback will decide the best option, while the Serie A winners are refusing to take part in a bidding war.
Italian accepts Cheslea offer
Marco Palestra
TuttoMercatoWeb claim the Blues have overtaken Inter Milan by making a higher offer to both Atalanta and Marco Palestra.
The Premier League side are offering an annual salary of €6m with bonuses and he has accepted it.
FcInter1908.it are also reporting he has accepted Chelsea’s offer and adds the San Siro club have no intention of returning with an improved bid.
Gianluca Di Marzio took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to state Chelsea have reached a basic agreement with Atalanta for €57m plus €3m bonuses and a 10% sell-on clause.
The Italy international, for his part, has said yes to both the Blues and Inter Milan. He has left it to Atalanta to accept the best offer, which will be Chelsea.
Di Marzio reports the ‘final bureaucratic and legal details will be finalised this morning’, after which Palestra’s €5m per year deal will be formalised. With all parties in agreement, Chelsea should wrap up the signing quickly.
The Italian spent last season on loan at Cagliari, playing 37 matches.