Chelsea offer £59m plus Marcos Alonso for Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong

Chelsea have offered €70 million (£59m) plus Marcos Alonso for Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong, according to reports in Spain.

Barcelona remain keen on offloading De Jong before the summer transfer window closes in order to improve their finances.

The Spanish club desperately need to trim their wage bill after being told by La Liga that they are currently unable to register their new summer signings, including Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie.

De Jong, meanwhile, has stood firm and has made it clear that he wants to remain at Barcelona for another season.

Manchester United have been pushing to sign De Jong all summer but despite agreeing an €85 million (£71.7m) deal with Barcelona, the Netherlands international does not appear keen on a switch to Old Trafford.

It’s understood that De Jong would prefer a move to Chelsea as they are able to offer Champions League football and according to Sport, Thomas Tuchel’s side have now submitted a bid of €70m (£59m) plus Alonso for the midfielder.

The report claims that Chelsea are ‘convinced’ that Barcelona will accept their proposal but they still need to reach an agreement with De Jong.

Should De Jong snub a switch to Stamford Bridge, Chelsea are said to be willing to sell Alonso in a separate deal worth under €10m (£8.4m).

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Speaking last week, Barcelona president Joan Laporta made it clear that De Jong would need to accept a wage cut in order to stay at Camp Nou.

‘He wants to stay and we want him to stay. That is the most