Celtic have told Chelsea they will need to pay £40m to prize Moussa Dembele away from the club on transfer deadline day, reports The Daily Telegraph.
Antonio Conte’s side have been relatively quiet in the transfer market this month on the buying front but have sprung into action in recent days as they line up replacements for Asmir Begovic and Branislav Ivanovic.
Both have been linked with moves away from Stamford Bridge in recent days, while Chelsea are already in talks with Celtic over goalkeeper Craig Gordon while they appear to have missed out on signing Schalke defender Sead Kolasinac.
However, Chelsea are also now interested in bringing Dembele to the club after his sensational start to life at Celtic following a measly £500,000 move from Fulham at the start of the season.
Celtic aren’t interested in losing their star man midway through the season and have told Chelsea they will need to pay what would be their second biggest ever club-transfer fee in order to land the France U21 international.
Chelsea are now weighing up whether to step up their interest in Dembele or wait until the end of the season before lining up a move for the talented forward as they will either need competition for Diego Costa or a replacement for the controversial frontman.
Only Scott Sinclair and Liam Boyce (13 goals) have scored more goals in the Scottish Premier League than Dembele this season (9).
For more stats on Moussa Dembele, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
