Chelsea's focus turns to Cesc Fabregas as Atletico Madrid play hardball over Koke

 
Unwilling: Atletico Madrid and Juventus are reluctant to let their prize assets leave
Simon Johnson5 June 2014

Chelsea may have no choice but to pursue a £27m move for Cesc Fabregas after Atletico Madrid insisted Koke will not be following Diego Costa to Stamford Bridge.

As Standard Sport revealed earlier in the week, Koke and Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba are higher than Fabregas on Chelsea’s wishlist, however neither of their clubs want their prize asset to leave.

Barcelona want to cash in on Fabregas and reports continue to be leaked from the club in Spain that a deal with Chelsea has been agreed, with the 27-year-old set to receive £200,000-a-week.

Chelsea have been in talks with Atletico to conclude the £50m double signing of Costa and left back Filipe Luis, but their enquiry for Koke has been given short shrift.

The Atletico president Enrique Cerezo said:Koke will continue with us.

“We’re not a selling club, we’re a stable club. And I insist, Koke wants to play for Atlético, he is our franchise player and will continue with Atletico. There is nothing more to add.”

Chelsea Season Review

1/5

The Brazil international, 22, has a £49m release clause in his contract and also revealed he has no desire to quit the La Liga champions, saying: “I have a contract with Atletico Madrid and I'm happy. I do not think about anything other than the World Cup, it's what I do. It's very hard to convince me to leave.”

Costa is close to finally securing his £32m switch to Stamford Bridge having undergone a medical yesterday.

An announcement is not expected today though as Chelsea continue to negotiate terms for Luis, who has a £19.5m release clause in his contract.

Chelsea are not willing to meet that fee and Cerezo insists that the 28-year-old’s departure is not guaranteed.

He said: “Luis hasn’t said goodbye just yet. If he has to leave then I will refer to the release clause.”

Costa’s imminent arrival will be a major boost to Chelsea’s squad, who struggled without a top class centre forward this season.

In contrast, the 25-year-old scored 35 goals for Atletico and former Chelsea midfielder Juan Mata has backed his Spain team-mate to be a huge success in west London.

Mata said: “He is a striker who will do well in England. He’s powerful and strong. That kind of forward usually succeeds.”

Meanwhile, it has been reported in Belgium that Chelsea will hand Eden Hazard a new contract to ward off interest from Paris Saint Germain and Real Madrid.

Standard Sport revealed in March that Chelsea were preparing to increase his salary to over £200,000-a-week and that he was not for sale. The club also showed a strong signal of intent by handing him the No.10 jersey for next season.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in