Chelsea have moved to "vigorously deny" claims director Marina Granovskaia has attempted to compile a dossier of potential weaknesses in Bayer Leverkusen's hierarchy to gain an upper hand in negotiations for Kai Havertz.
The Blues are closing in on the signing of Havertz, football.london understands.
Chelsea have been locked in negotiations for several weeks with the Bundesliga club about securing a deal and they are moving closer to finally reaching an agreement.
Havertz is desperate to seal a move to Stamford Bridge in a bid to test himself in the Premier League, with personal terms having been agreed, meaning all that is dependent on a deal going through is the fee itself.
Chelsea are working tirelessly to get a deal concluded as soon as possible, with Granovskaia, the club's transfer guru, pulling out all the stops to get a deal finalised.
However, it was reported in the German media that the Blues' transfer chief was looking to exploit any weaknesses in Leverkusen's previous negotiating in order to try decrease their asking price for Havertz.
But a Chelsea spokesman has now moved to deny the claims, they told the Press Association: "We vigorously deny these suggestions; these claims are a complete fabrication.”
While Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger has said that Havertz is a 'great talent' amid suggestions that he himself could be key in making the transfer happen.
The German was credited with an impact in bringing international teammate Timo Werner to the club, with suggestion that a similar thing could happen again with Havertz.
But the Chelsea man isn't giving too much away when asked about Havertz.
“Has he been linked with us?” He joked.
“Yes, he is a great talent and he had a very good season. He is also very young and we will see what happens [with his future].”
The Blues are also interested in signing a new left-back and also a goalkeeper this summer, with Kepa Arrizabalaga seemingly out of favour.
