Chelsea told to ‘slap £100m on table’ for Mbappe in ‘take it or leave it’ offer; Rice ‘is the one’ for Blues
Chelsea legend Frank Leboeuf has encouraged his former club to sign PSG attacker Kylian Mbappe and West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice.
Mbappe was expected to join Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer but in May he penned a contract extension until 2025.
The Frenchman was offered a huge salary and was given power behind the scenes as PSG desperately attempted to keep him.
The Ligue 1 giants got their way but earlier this month it was reported that Mbappe now ‘wants to leave’ after the club supposedly made false promises.
A move to Real Madrid feels unlikely after he deceived them earlier this year. Liverpool also continue to be linked with him.
Leboeuf has argued that Chelsea should put in a £100m bid for Mbappe as “nobody else is going to buy him”.
“When I heard Mbappe saying he doesn’t see his future at PSG I thought there’s nothing stopping Chelsea from going all out to try and bring him to Stamford Bridge,” Leboeuf told fairbettingsites.
“If he wants to leave PSG, Boehly could slap £100m on the table and say ‘take it or leave it’ because nobody else realistically is going to buy him.
“People say Real Madrid but they’ve got Benzema up top and Vinicious Jr on the left and Rodrygo on the right and they’re on fire so I can’t see him going there right now.”
Leboeuf also thinks that Chelsea are in need of a new centre-midfielder to replace N’Golo Kante.
He believes West Ham’s Rice “is the one” to fill this potential void as the thought of him playing alongside Mason Mount gives him “goosebumps”.
“Otherwise the only other position I think Chelsea need to strengthen is central midfield as a potential replacement for Kante. Kante is out for about four months and while Jorginho is a great player he is not defensively minded. Kovacic is a good player and he does his job well but he needs a partner.
“Declan Rice is the one for me. It would be very, very interesting if Kante leaves. I would love to see them go and get Rice from West Ham.
“I get goosebumps thinking of Mason Mount and Declan Rice playing together at Chelsea because they are academy graduates and that’s what fans want to see. Man Utd are missing the point with their transfer policy of just buying big stars.
“They need to remember the Neville brothers, Beckham, Scholes, Giggs etc all came through the system and providing the backbone of the greatest period in the club’s history.
“The biggest figure in Chelsea’s recent history is John Terry, who OK started at West Ham but he’s Chelsea through and through and came through the academy like Mason Mount. Declan Rice belongs to Chelsea, like Conor Gallagher.”
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