Chelsea’s frenetic end to the transfer window has stepped up a pace with the Premier League champions lodging a bid for Everton midfielder Ross Barkley.

The offer is believed to be worth around £25million and comes on the back of the £35m bid for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Chelsea will make a third offer for Leicester City’s Danny Drinkwater and are optimistic Swansea City will sanction the sale of striker Fernando Llorente before the transfer window shuts on Thursday night.

Everton originally valued Barkley at £50m at the start of the window, but are aware they will no longer get close to that figure and are now in talks with Chelsea over a deal.

Tottenham Hotspur have held a long-standing interest in Barkley and Everton will now hope they make a counter bid to try to drive the 23-year-old’s price back up.

Despite the fact Barkley is out for around three months with a hamstring injury and is in the final 12 months of his contract, Chelsea want to do a deal in this window.