Chelsea have made a lucrative contract offer to Barcelona midfielder, Ilaix Moriba, according to reports in Spain.
I have spoken to good source Shay Lugassi from Barca Times, who has filled me in on all the information surrounding the potential deal from their own trusted Spanish and English sources.
Lugassi tells me that Barcelona have stalled on new contract negotiations with the youngster, and the club are very angry because of the attitude of the player representatives, who were very difficult throughout the negotiations and it surprised them because they thought he would extend a contract and there would be no problems.
But things are up in the air, and Chelsea have jumped in with a contract offer for him and look to pip in and sign him.
Lugassi says that Chelsea have offered the player a very high salary in addition to a bonus and a large commission for his father and agent, which makes them currently favourites to land his signature.
Moriba is now unlikely to stay at Barcelona and the club will listen to offers for him from Monday onwards.
I feel that if Chelsea did pull this deal off, he would probably be a buy to loan capture and I doubt he would come into the senior squad this season. But I might be wrong, we shall see if anything transpires here.
Simon Phillips and Shay Lugassi