Milan reject Chelsea bid for Alessio Romagnoli

AC Milan have rejected a bid “in excess of €25million” from Chelsea for defender Alessio Romagnoli.

The Serie A side confirmed on their TV channel that they had rebuffed an approach for the 21-year-old defender, who only moved to Milan in a €25million deal from Roma last summer.

La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani has told the Blues that Romagnoli is “unsellable” after reports in Italy on Monday claimed that Chelsea had turned their attentions to Romagnoli, having switched the attention from Kalidou Koulibaly.

Sky Italia have also reported the story but claim Antonio Conte’s bid was closer to £30million.

New Blues boss Conte is in desperate need for a centre-back and may well up his offer for Romagnoli, who played in Sunday’s win over Torino and who made 40 appearances for the club last term.

Speaking after Saturday’s victory over Watford, Conte, who has been linked with a move for Giorgio Chiellini and Nikola Maksimovic, stressed Chelsea’s need for defensive reinforcements before the end of the month,

“If you look now at our squad, we have only five defenders – four that started today and an academy player, [Ola] Aina,” Conte said. “If one defender is injured or banned, then we are in trouble, but the club and I know this and we are talking every day to improve the squad.

“We know that this market is very difficult. It’s crazy. I don’t want to buy only to buy. I want to buy the right profile for Chelsea, the right investment for the solution and for the future.”