Chelsea are at the front of the transfer queue for Bayer Leverkusen star Kai Havertz but Real Madrid are reportedly working on a swap deal for the 21-year-old which could be a big blow to Frank Lampard’s plans.
Chelsea have placed Havertz top of their summer shopping list following the arrivals of Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner from Ajax and RB Leipzig, respectively.
A host of top European clubs have been tracking the versatile midfielder but they are unable to meet his £90million price tag because of how the coronavirus has impacted their finances.
Lampard’s side are in a strong position following the recent sales of Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata.
But Real have come up with another way of trying to strike a deal to take Havertz to the Bernabeu.
According to German transfer expert Christian Falk, Los Blancos are trying to negotiate a player-swap deal with Leverkusen.
“Leverkusen is a question of money,” Falk told the Football Ranks podcast. “Bayern Munich won’t pay it. Barca won’t pay it. Real Madrid are trying to do a swap deal at the minute.
However, Leverkusen would prefer to take all a full-cash offer.
“But if one of the English clubs is going to pay it then good,” Falk added.
Leverkusen finished fifth in the Bundesliga meaning they will not be playing Champions League football next year.
“Now Chelsea is ahead in this race because the other clubs can’t pay so much money at the moment.
“Chelsea showed with Werner that they can do that and one of the last interviews Kai gave us before the season ended he was asked about the problem of Champions League and you saw at this moment, although he didn’t say it, that if Leverkusen would be in the Champions League he would say ‘OK, I will wait one year more, it is good for my education then I can do the transfer’.
“But that has not happened with the Champions League and now he wants to move.”