Chelsea slap £25m price tag on Kevin De Bruyne - with deal for Nemanja Matic lined up

 
Simon Johnson2 January 2014

Chelsea have set an incredible £25m asking price for Belgium international Kevin De Bruyne to leave this month.

De Bruyne, who cost just £7m when Chelsea signed him from Genk two years ago, is desperate to leave Stamford Bridge having started just five games this term.

A number of clubs in Europe are keen, but he is only interested in returning to the Bundesliga where he enjoyed a successful loan spell at Werder Bremen last season.

Standard Sport understands Wolfsburg have moved ahead of Schalke and Bayer Leverkusen and have opened negotiations with Chelsea.

But the German side are not willing to pay such a high figure, although are prepared to offer in the region of £17m instead.

Chelsea are still not sure whether they want to allow the 22-year-old to leave on a permanent basis, which is why they have asked for such a huge fee in order to scare suitors away.

They would prefer to loan him out again, but De Bruyne would favour a permanent move so he can get his career back on track.

Chelsea are also considering selling him with a view to buying him back in the future, although if Wolfsburg pay £17m that will be a huge profit on what they paid for him and they can use the funds to make some signings this month themselves.

They have been strongly linked with Inter Milan midfielder Fredy Guarin, but former midfielder Nemanja Matic is being lined up for a return from Benfica.

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