Chelsea's move for Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi this month has failed to materialize due to concerns over the cost of a deal.
The Blues have considered bringing back one of their youth stars, who has since flourished after opting to leave the club in search of regular playing time. Guehi has made himself a regular in England while at Selhurst Park and now has a number of admirers. Talks of a January move have been held with Palace, with Palace making it clear they wanted £60m despite Guehi only having 18 months left on his current contract.
That's down from the £75m they demanded from Newcastle last summer, with the England centre-back the subject of several bids.
Chelsea had hoped a bid of between £45 and £50m would attract Palace's interest and seal a deal for a player the Blues sold to Palace for £18m in 2021.
That deal included a 20 percent sell-on clause and rights to match any transfer offer from rival clubs. Thanks to the resale clause The Blues effectively receive a discount on the defender's transfer fee.
But Palace want to maximize their profits if they lose Guehi and while Chelsea would be willing to ignore the sell-on clause, the £60m they are demanding – excluding the clause – is seen as too much.
Chelsea have also learned that Guehi would demand a weekly wage of £170,000, which, under the new structure implemented by Todd Boehly and co, would make the defender one of the club's highest earners.
The west Londoners were open to offloading several players this month, which they hoped would help fund their interest in Guehi. Renato Veiga and Axel Disasi could both leave – with the former keen to join Borussia Dortmund in his preferred centre-half role – but one man returning to Stamford Bridge is Trevoh Chalobah, who was loaned to Palace.
His spell at Selhurst Park was cut short because Chelsea are struggling with injuries to the backline. The defender could end up being a factor in any Guehi deal if The Blues want to revive a campaign in the coming weeks, or even in the summer.
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