Claude Makelele, youth coach and technical mentor at Chelsea, has reportedly held talks with Paris Saint-Germain over a possible move for Edinson Cavani.
Cavani becomes a free agent when his PSG contract expires in the summer and has handed in a transfer request as he seeks a new challenge away from the Parc des Princes.
Manchester United and Tottenham, both in need of attacking reinforcements, have been heavily linked with Cavani and Chelsea have also registered a strong interest in the 32-year-old this January.
But Atletico Madrid are in pole position to sign Cavani despite having an initial €10million (£8.5m) offer rejected for the Uruguay international.
According to Goal, Chelsea coach Makelele raised the prospect of signing Cavani during a recent meeting with PSG over another of their players, 17-year-old midfielder Kays Ruiz-Atil.
Though Cavani has struggled with injury problems and has only made four league starts for PSG this term, the French champions are reluctant to sell the striker for a cut-price fee.
Asked about Cavani’s future at the weekend, PSG boss Thomas Tuchel admitted: ‘I am not sure that Edinson Cavani will be here in February.’
PSG sporting director Leonardo added: ‘We’ve always said the same thing. We were hoping he would stay with the club, but today (Sunday) he asked to leave.
‘We’re studying the situation. We’ve had a proposal from Atletico Madrid, but that proposal was not commensurate with the player’s value.’
Earlier this week, Frank Lampard hinted at a potential move Cavani as he looks for short-term solutions up front for Chelsea.
Asked about Cavani, the Chelsea manager replied: ‘He’s a great player. I played against him and I always loved his mentality and his attitude and obviously his goalscoring record speaks for itself.
‘I’m not absolutely aware of what the situation is, so we’ll see.’
‘He’s an experienced player but so are many other players out there.
‘We are young as a squad, and we know about the transitions, so the idea of bringing in experience is certainly not something I’m looking away from because sometimes the younger players need a bit of help.
‘If that’s the case then that may help us.’
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from Football – Metro https://ift.tt/2Rddp9D
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