Chelsea have increased their offer for Zenit St Petersburg midfielder Leandro Paredes to £31.2m as Alvaro Morata targets a move back to Atletico Madrid.

The Blues are keen to secure the acquisition of Paredes as soon as possible but their opening bid of £26.8m has been rejected.

It remains to be seen whether Zenit will accept Chelsea’s new approach too as the Russian club value the 24-year-old at around £36m.

Chelsea coach Maurizio Sarri desperately wants another playmaker to move to Stamford Bridge following the departure of Cesc Fabregas to Monaco.

The club are willing to offer the Argentina international a four-and-a-half-year contract worth £80,000-a-week.

Meanwhile, Morata (below) has stepped up talks with former club Atletico over a loan move back to LaLiga.

The 26-year-old is desperate to leave Chelsea after struggling to make an impact since a £58m switch from Real Madrid in 2017.

The west London club are prepared to let Morata leave as long as they’re successful in their attempts to acquire another forward first.

Sarri has made it clear to the board that he wants Gonzalo Higuian, who is on loan at AC Milan from Juventus, but that deal remains complicated.

It won’t be easy for Morata to go back to Atletico, where he started his career as a schoolboy, either.

Atletico need to make room in their squad first and have to offload some players in order to be able to afford him.

Strikers Nikola Kalinic and Gelson Martins are the two under threat, but Atletico will still have to find clubs that are interested in them.

It is believed Morata wants Atletico to formalise a deal with Chelsea that will see him join on a permanent basis in the summer.

The Spain international, who has scored just 24 goals for the English club, is even prepared to take a pay cut from his current £200,000-a-week salary to make it possible.

Sevilla, who met with Morata’s agent last week, have confirmed that they have dropped out of the running.

Director of football Joaquin Caparros said: “Morata wanted to come here, but when the talk moved to money we realised it was impossible.”