Chelsea will pay £29 million to sign midfielder N’Golo Kante from Leicester City amid serious competition from a Chinese club, according to reports in France.
After a breakout 2015-16 with the unlikely Premier League champions, Kante, who had reportedly been offered a new £100,000-a-week deal to stay at Leicester, has been in the sights of some of Europe’s biggest clubs, including Real Madrid.
However it wasn’t Los Blancos who forced the Stamford Bridge club to exceed the Frenchman’s £22m buyout clause with the Foxes. It was Chinese contenders Shanghai SIPG, who made waves last week by signing Brazilian star Hulk from Zenit St Petersburg for an eye-opening €56 million.
But the Chinese club’s signing power didn’t deter new boss Antonio Conte, who was reported to have taken a direct role in the negotiations for the France international.
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