Chelsea and Barcelona club badges (Photos by Ben Hoskins, Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Chelsea and Barcelona are ready to battle for one of the biggest names in world football at the moment.
Both teams are looking to strengthen their attack next season and they have already identified their target.
The Premier League and the La Liga side are looking to strengthen their wide position.
While Chelsea want to sign a player who can offer creativity and goals from the wide position and straight away become a member of their starting line up, Barcelona are looking for an option to increase the depth of their squad.
The Catalan giants already have the likes of Lamine Yamal and Raphinha occupying their wide attacking positions.
Reports from Italy, shared by AS, suggest that Chelsea are targeting AC Milan Rafael Leao for a summer transfer, positioning themselves as competitors to Barcelona.
The Premier League giants are aiming to strengthen their attacking lineup with a high-profile signing and view Leao as an ideal fit.
Italian giants AC Milan are open to offers for the Portuguese attacker and both Chelsea and Barcelona would have to pay a premium to sign the attacker.
Leao has a contract that runs until 2028 at AC Milan which puts the Italian side in a strong position to demand a huge fee for the transfer.
Chelsea want AC Milan star Rafael Leao
Leao has netted nine goals and provided eight assists in 35 appearances across all competitions.
Barcelona wanted to sign Nico Williams last summer but they could not go ahead with the move because of financial troubles at the club.
They still feel that they need attacking reinforcements to the squad but Chelsea stand in their way to sign Leao.
The Blues signed Jadon Sancho, Pedro Neto and Joao Felix in the summer last year but none of them have been able to prove themselves at Stamford Bridge this season.
Sancho has completely lost his form and the promising signs he showed after moving to Chelsea look more like a fluke now than him managing to turnaround his career.
Neto has not really settled well at Chelsea and it appears like the player does not have the confidence of the manager.
Meanwhile, Felix left Chelsea to join AC Milan in a loan move which shows that his long term future lies away from the Premier League side.
Chelsea’s interest in Alejandro Garnacho in January showed that they are looking for more wide attackers.
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