Chelsea in £35m bid for Barcelona star after missing out on Xavi Simons

CHELSEA have made a £35million offer for Barcelona star Fermin Lopez.

The offer was sent to the LaLiga giants immediately after the 2-0 win over Fulham.

3 Chelsea have made an offer for Fermin Lopez Credit: EPA

3 The Blues missed out on Xavi Simons, who joined Tottenham Credit: Getty

The Blues were left rocked during the game as striker Liam Delap was forced off with a hamstring injury after just 14 minutes.

The club are also still reeling after their move for Xavi Simons was hijacked by London rivals Tottenham Hotspur .

Nicolas Jackson has been called back after flying to Germany to seal his move to Bayern Munich following the Delap injury.

The bid for Lopez, 22, has been made as the club are looking for an alternative to Simons.

Chelsea are yet to receive a response from Barcelona on whether or not their offer has been accepted.

They will face competition for the attacking midfielder from Newcastle United who have also been credited with an interest.

Reports in Spain have claimed that the Magpies are willing to blow Chelsea's bid out of the water.

El Chiringuito TV have suggested that Newcastle would be open to parting with up to £87MILLION for the Spaniard.

But SunSport understands that Chelsea are confident of sealing a deal for a much lower fee.

This would be more than double the offer of the Stamford Bridge club.

Lopez has already made 89 appearances for the Catalonians since breaking into the team.

He has scored 19 goals and notched ten assists in that time.

Manager Hansi Flick thinks Lopez will stay, but did admit that he does not know what will happen before the end of the transfer window.

Speaking today, he said: "At the moment, he is here.

TOTAL - £280.75m

OUT

TOTAL - £306.2m

"I spoke with him. I'm convinced that he will stay, but at the end I don't know what happens. We have to wait. I am really happy when the market is closed.

"I told him my opinion, but it's between him and me. Sometimes players have other thoughts.

"Around the players are also a lot of people, who know maybe more than we know.

"It's a big business. I have to focus on my team and I am really happy Fermín plays for Barca.

"He's a really important player for us. He showed that last season. His style is different to other players. He can help us a lot."

The Blues have already been very active in the transfer market this summer.

Enzo Maresca has seen the likes of Delap, Joao Pedro, Jorell Hato and Estevao become members of his first-team squad.

And on Saturday night they finally announced the signing of Alejandro Garnacho.

While the likes of Noni Madueke , Joao Felix, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Renato Veiga are among those who have been sold.

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