Sign up to FREE email alerts from Football London - Chelsea Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Daniele Rugani is once again being linked with a move to Chelsea.

With Maurizio Sarri thought to be closing in on becoming the new manager at Stamford Bridge, reports in Italy suggest that the Italian is keen to bring Juventus defender Rugani to England with him.

A bid of around €30million was mooted for the defender an the reports coming out of Italy have suggested that a deal is close to being agreed, with Rugani being offered a five-year contract.

However, things may not be as they seem.

Just a few days ago the player's agent poured cold water over any speculation by saying that a meeting between him and Juventus sporting director Fabio Paratici was agreed long ago and was not about a move to Chelsea.

Davide Torchia met with Paratici last week, but it was pre-planned and purely coincidental that the links with Chelsea emerged at the same time.

Torchia confirmed that he was holding talks with Juventus regarding the player, but they were not transfer related.

"I know that nobody will believe me, but I met with Paratici because it was already scheduled," he said. I didn’t know there was going to be this storm the day before. We talked about how to improve the player and what to do going forward, but we didn’t set up any negotiations.

"We can’t say for sure in life that the player is off the market completely, but we can confirm no formal offers have arrived.

"He is happy to be there and Juve are happy with him. It was purely a coincidence we had this meeting after those reports. I can assure you we did not talk about Chelsea."

It could be a case of watch this space on this one.

Keep up to date with the latest news, features and exclusive from football.london via the free football.london app for iPhone and Android.

Available to download from the App Store and Google Play.