Chelsea and Manchester United have both made direct contact over Como attacking midfielder Martin Baturina, who has long been on the radar of top Premier League clubs, as first reported via the Daily Briefing.
The likes of Tottenham, Aston Villa, and Newcastle United have also been closely monitoring the Croatia international, while I’m also told that Bundesliga duo Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig could enter the conversation at some point.
For now, it’s early days, but the buzz is that Man Utd and Chelsea are the two clubs who have communicated directly with Como to gather information on the player’s situation.
(Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Como have communicated that they aren’t keen on letting Baturina go, but every player has his price, and serious transfer negotiations could start at a fee in the region of €80m.
United and Chelsea have not yet signalled that they’d be willing to go that high, with another well-placed source in the industry informing me that interested clubs value the player at closer to €60m, so that’s a fairly significant gap, even if it’s not totally insurmountable.
“Baturina is well-liked by the recruitment staff of Chelsea and Man United,” my source told me. “They’ve been pushing for this deal for a while and early discussions have taken place with Como. There’s definitely the sense that they’d sell for the right price, but we’re a long way from an agreement as there’s at least a €20m gap in valuation between the parties at the moment.”
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For his part, Baturina is not currently pushing to leave Como, but my understanding is that the 23-year-old has “confidence in his ability” and “ambition to play at the highest level”, as per multiple sources with an understanding of his situation.
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