Antonio Conte is on a mission to reunite with Chilean superstar Arturo Vidal, and could offer the midfielder up to €15 million per season to make the jump to Chelsea from Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich next summer.
That’s according to local reports in both Chile and Germany, with German newspaper Bild claiming the Italian has personally phoned the 30-year-old, who broke through to stardom as part of Conte’s Juventus side, in an attempt to engineer the deal.
According to Chilean publication La Cuatra, Conte has urged the Blues’ board to pursue his former charge as soon as the current season draws to a close, with the midfield star set to be offered a four-year contract that will double the salary he currently earns at Bayern.
German media claims that Jupp Heynckes may be willing to offload his side’s third-oldest player for a decent return on the €37.5 million they forked out for him in the summer of 2015 – especially with the 97-times-capped Chile international struggling for form in the current term, despite Bayern sitting 11 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga table.
Conte and Vidal enjoyed a close working relationship at Juventus, winning three consecutive Serie A titles before the former departed in 2014 to helm the Italian national side, and it is believed the Chilean was near the top of the Italian’s initial hitlist when he first moved to Stamford Bridge last season. As it stands, the duo may be set to be reunited at Chelsea after all, albeit two years later than initially planned.
Header image by football.ua [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
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