Chelsea prepare 'hefty' sum to land Frenkie de Jong in perfect January transfer

Chelsea are prepared to pay a 'hefty' sum to land perfect midfield target Frenkie de Jong in January, reports Football Insider.

The Blues have had to go without a replacement for Enzo Fernandez since they sold him in the final hour of the summer transfer window. they felt Lamine Camara was going to be theirs, before Monaco backed out of the deal.

As such, it seems a priority for Chelsea to add a top midfielder to their squad.

It's believed Barca's De Jong is now up towards the top of the list for the London club.

According to the report, Chelsea have a 'hefty' sum in mind for the Dutchman's salary in order to lure him away from his current club in January, should they first be able to convince them to sell.

The hope is that a big name with vast experience can enter the midfield corps, and De Jong is felt to be perfect for that.

Given he is already on a substantial wage at Barca, Chelsea are going to try to lure the 29-year-old in with a lucrative contract.

De Jong is believed to earn €250,000 (£211k) per week with the Spanish giants. That would put him seventh on Chelsea's contracts list if they were to match it.

With that said, there's a sense that it's going to be difficult to get Barcelona to agree to selling De Jong to any club, as they are not actively looking to push him out the door.

It has been suggested that it would take an offer of at least £50million to see the Spanish giants consider letting their midfield star go.

His importance to Barca, it's believed, will make it tough, though. While the Dutchman has struggled with injuries during his time at the club, when fit, he's one of the players they'd prefer to call upon most often.

Why did Chelsea not recruit a midfielder in the summer?

The reason Chelsea are on the hunt for a new midfielder is to replace Fernandez, with it felt that De Jong is a perfect option to do so.

They did think they were going to be able to replace the Argentine midfielder in the summer, with an agreement in place with Monaco to sign their midfield man Camara.

The Blues were set to sign him for £47million, before in the final hours of the window, the Ligue 1 club reneged on the agreement, leaving Chelsea to sell Fernandez but unable to replace him in time.

The January window will give them a chance to rectify that, but they'd have wanted a new man through the door sooner in an ideal world.