Sources: Chelsea & Man United make contact over potential €80m transfer

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.

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.”

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.

Baturina has previously been compared to Luka Modric for his intelligent playmaking and ability in tight spaces.

He might not be someone getting double figures for goals and assists every season, but his numbers are decent and he’s still young enough that he can keep getting better.

Baturina has a total of 13 goal contributions (9 goals, 4 assists) in 38 appearances for Como since the start of last season, and his quality of passing makes him a key part of how Cesc Fabregas’ impressive side play.

Premier League scouts are understood to be optimistic that the former Dinamo Zagreb youngster would have little trouble settling in in English football and contributing a great deal to clubs at the higher end of the table.

It will be interesting to see how this saga plays out, but it’s worth remembering that Como are also attracting a great deal of interest in other star names like Nico Paz and Jacobo Ramon, both of whom we’ve covered here. There’ll be little appetite to sell too many important players at once.