Chelsea Lining Up £25m Move for 20-Year-Old Dinamo Zagreb Defender

Chelsea are said to be preparing to table a bid for Dinamo Zagreb defender Filip Benkovic, with the fee rumoured to be around £25m.

According to the Sunday Express, Chelsea's recruitment team are eager to begin making signings ahead of the new season in spite of the current managerial crisis at the club and have lined up the 20-year-old centre-back as a potential new recruit.

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Despite still being a few days shy of his 21st birthday, Benkovic is already becoming one of Europe's most highly-rated young defenders and has made 88 appearances for Dinamo Zagreb en route to becoming a key member of the squad. The young centre-back has played for Dinamo for the entirety of his career so far, having joined their youth program in 2008.

While predominantly a central defender, Benkovic has the added quality of being able to play as a defensive midfielder, giving him a versatility which could be of use to a side such as Chelsea.

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Chelsea have been inactive in the transfer market so far this summer, largely due to the uncertainty surrounding the future of manager Antonio Conte and the potential appointment of Napoli's Maurizio Sarri as the club's new boss.

Sarri has already left Napoli, the Italian side replacing him with Carlo Ancelotti - however, Chelsea would still be required to compensate Napoli to the tune of around £4.5m. 

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In addition to that, sacking Conte would cost Chelsea £9m in paying off the final year of his contract, leaving the manager and owner at a stalemate as Roman Abramovic remains reluctant to part with so much money.