Chelsea have reportedly had an opening offer for Bayer Leverkusen wonderkid Kai Havertz rejected.
According to transfer expert, Ian McGarry, the Blues made their first move to land the Germany international by launching a bid of £45million plus £9 million in add-ons in an attempt to get a deal done.
However, that is still £27million below the asking price for the midfielder.
"Chelsea's pursuit of German international Kai Havertz from Bayer Leverkusen has progressed a little bit," McGarry said on the Transfer window podcast. "It is our understanding that Chelsea met with Bayer Leverkusen officials this week.
"Petr Cech had visited Leverkusen to speak to officials there and the player about a possible move to Stamford Bridge.
"That has resulted in an opening bid of 50m euros plus 10m euros in add-ons.
"Leverkusen continue to value the player at 90m euros. That is something Chelsea feel is not a fair price for the 21-year-old.
"However, they are obviously keen to get the player and are willing to pay."
So it would appear that Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia will need to raise £27m to help fund a deal for Havertz and there's a number of ways to generate some cash.
One idea that has been previously been suggested is cashing in on the likes of Marcos Alonso, Michy Batshuayi, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Kenedy, Emerson Palmieri and Danny Drinkwater.
Interestingly the Blues could raise £86.1m by selling the aforementioned half a dozen players and fund a move for Havertz whilst making a profit at the same time.
That's down to their respective values on transfermarkt - Alonso (£16.2m), Batshuayi (£12.6m), Bakayoko (£22.9m), Kenedy (£8.5m) Emerson (£21.6m) and Drinkwater (£4.3m).
Or another way could be to look at selling a player valued at £27m or higher.
Luckily eight members of the current Chelsea first-team squad (minus new arrivals Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner) fall into this category which includes vice-captain Jorginho (£46.8m) and Christian Pulisic (£54m).
Academy products Mason Mount (£36.4m), Tammy Abraham (£36m) and Callum Hudson-Odoi (£28.3m) also have high values, but it's unlikely any would be placed up for sale this summer.
N'Golo Kante (£72m), Antonio Rudiger and Mateo Kovacic (both £36m) complete the list.
Of the eight, some Chelsea fans could argue that Rudiger and perhaps Jorginho should be sold if it could help fund a deal for Havertz.
Should it come down to this kind of scenario then Granovskaia can make a bold decision to help complete Frank Lampard's squad ahead of the 2020/21 season.
