Leicester tell Chelsea how much Drinkwater will cost them

Leicester have told defending Premier League champions Chelsea that they will need to spend every penny of the money they made from Nemanja Matic’s sale to sign Danny Drinkwater, claims The Daily Telegraph.

Chelsea sold Matic to Manchester United at the end of last month for a reported £40m and have already had an opening £15m offer for Drinkwater rejected by the Foxes.

Craig Shakespeare’s side are reluctant to sell Drinkwater and are now holding out for the same £40m that Chelsea sold Matic for, as they sense their rivals are desperate to deliver key targets to Antonio Conte.

Leicester have been unwavering in transfer negotiations already this summer and Chelsea will only have to look at how they dealt with Roma for Riyad Mahrez to know that there will be little room to haggle.

The 27-year-old missed Leicester’s 4-3 defeat to Arsenal in their first Premier League game through injury, which is hardly ideal for Chelsea given two of the three signings they’ve made already this summer have arrived with fitness concerns.

In the last three Premier League campaigns, Drinkwater has won possession the middle third more times than any other player (331).