Premier League leaders Chelsea are thought to be closing in on the signing of Bayern Munich midfielder Arturo Vidal, after a Boxing Day meeting with the player's representatives.
The 29-year-old Chilean hard man played under Blues boss Antonio Conte back at Juventus, and the pair are believed to have been quite fond of each other.
With Oscar having sealed a move to Shanghai SIPG earlier this month, the Sun report that Conte is said to be looking for a replacement - and met with Vidal's reps over the Christmas period. AS Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan is still believed to be the chief midfield target, but Chelsea are quite averse to meeting the Serie A side's valuation of £51m.
They have instead placed their focus on Vidal, and believe that £38m will be enough to take him off Bayern's books. Conte will launch an initial bid of £34m, however.
According to the newspaper, the player and his representatives held a meeting with the former Italy manager on Boxing Day. Conte was the one who bought him for Juventus from Bayer Leverkusen in 2011, and he went on to blossom into one of the finest midfielders in the world under the feisty Italian.
Speaking back in March, Vidal declared that he would go to war with Conte when asked about a possible reunion, saying: “If I go to war I would take Conte with me. We will see what happens."
Conte echoed the same, also adding that he changed his entire system just to suit the player's dynamism in midfield.
Conte said: “Arturo Vidal said he’d take me to war with him? I’d take Vidal too. He’s an amazing player. I must admit at Juve, I found him hard to fit in. In my head, I wanted to play a 4-2-4 and 4-4-2, but seeing the intensity of Vidal getting up and down the pitch, I switched to 4-3-3 which then transformed into 3-5-2.
“He has extraordinary physical and technical attributes, if I get to coach him a little more it’d be fantastic. I want him on all my teams.”
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