Chelsea will have to cough up £45million for Juventus star Daniele Rugani after holding talks with the Serie A giants in Italy.
Maurizio Sarri has identified the 23-year-old as his primary defensive target after voicing concerns about the strength of Chelsea's central defence.
Sarri's late appointment means Chelsea have had to accelerate their transfer business and Blues director Marina Granovskaia was in Italy on Thursday to speak to Juventus.
The meeting was primarily to discuss Rugani, as Chelsea believe the Old Lady are more than willing to sell Gonzalo Higuain for the right price.
However, Chelsea were told they will have to pay around £45m for Rugani and the Blues are unwilling to stretch that far, according to the Sun.
That would put a double deal for Rugani and Higuain in the region of £115m - a heavy outlay for the Blues consdiering they've already signed Jorginho for £52m.
Juventus publicly admitted they're considering selling Higuain but denied they'd received a concrete offer from Chelsea.
Chelsea will let Alvaro Morata leave to fund a move for Higuain but the club want £62m from interested party AC Milan.
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