Chelsea dealt blow in pursuit of defender Aymen Abdennour with Monaco preferring to sell to Valencia despite star's wishes - Chelsea had hoped to sign Monaco's £15m defender Aymen Abdennour
- But Valencia have announced the signing of the Monaco defender
- Abdennour had signed papers saying he would prefer to move to Chelsea
Chelsea's hopes of signing Monaco defender Aymen Abdennour have taken a plunge, even though the Monaco defender has signed papers saying he wants to play for Jose Mourinho.Chelsea have gone cold after the price to sign the 26-year-old centre half was increased at the last moment.
It seems the French club would prefer to do business with Valencia, the club that knocked them out of the Champions League.
Abdennour did not play in either leg against Valencia, who won the knock-out tie 4-3 on aggregate, and he is now expected to join the Spanish club in the next 24 hours.
Chelsea had hoped to announce his signing this week in a bid to shore up their defence.
But talks with Monaco did not go to plan and now the player is being encouraged to join Valencia.
He signed papers saying his preferred option was Chelsea and the London club have been left 'puzzled' by developments.
They were ready to go to £15million but the price is likely to be closer to £22m. They do not believe the player is worth that price.
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