Chelsea reportedly offered Christian Pulisic and Haim Ziyech in a swap deal to sign Rafael Leao from AC Milan last summer, according to a recent report from The Athletic.
Leao was heavily linked with a move to Stamford Bridge last year with Chelsea, under the new ownership of Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, stepping up their efforts to sign the reigning Serie A MVP.
AC Milan, however, refused to budge on their asking price – a €150 million buyout clause in the player’s contract at the time – and Chelsea are said to have offered attackers Pulisic and Ziyech in an attempt to drive down the valuation.
Chelsea’s executives are also mentioned to have revived their interest in the Portugal international earlier this year despite the big money January signing of Mykhailo Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk only for Leao to commit his future to Milan.
The highly rated winger put pen to paper on a new five year deal at San Siro ahead of his side’s Champions League semi final first leg clash against Inter Milan which would come as a major setback to Chelsea on the transfer front.
