According to reports from Gazzetta dello Sport, Chelsea have tabled a €4million bid for Red Star Belgrade prodigy Marko Grujic.
The 19 year-old measures in at a lofty 6 foot 3 and has resultantly been compared to the Blues’ midfield monolith Nemanja Matic. He featured prominently as Serbia won the U20 World Cup in New Zealand during the summer and has been attracting interest from Chelsea, Manchester United, PSG and several Serie A clubs recently.
The Red Devils ran the rule over Grujic during last month’s Belgrade derby – a 3-0 win over FK Rad Beograd in which he produced a long-range strike to open the scoring – whilst Chelsea, who are known to have good ties with Red Star, appear to have been tracking the midfielder’s development for some time.
The west London outfit were always confident in their chances of signing the highly-rated teenager and according to Gazzetta dello Sport, have now made the first significant move in the race for his signature by launching a €4million bid.
However, the Italian publication claim Inter Milan have a plan to beat Chelsea to Grujic. They’re hoping retired midfielder Dejan Stankovic, Serbia’s all-time leading appearance maker who started his career at Red Star before winning five Serie A titles and a Champions League title with Inter, can help lure the towering prodigy to the San Siro instead. He currently works as assistant manager to Roberto Mancini.