AC Milan did make an offer to sign Carney Chukwuemeka but they never got close to Chelsea’s bid in the end, a report has claimed.
The Athletic writes that Aston Villa wanted to extend his contract and even offered to make him the highest-paid teenager in the Premier League, and if they had to sell Chukwuemeka it would only be for an offer they felt right.
Barcelona weighed up a bid while Milan were willing to pay €3.5m to sign him this summer, and while there was interest from England there was nothing suggesting any club would pay the £20m (€24m) they wanted.
Chelsea owner Todd Boehly and Villa chief executive Christian Purslow had talks over a dinner and Chukwuemeka was mentioned, and then the ‘move was wrapped up in less than a week’.
Chelsea now have the 18-year-old and have already made the decision to integrate him into the first-team squad immediately. Villa had to sell for the offer that came in knowing would have been entitled to just £400,000 (€470k) of training compensation had he left on a free at the end of next season.
The report mentions that Chelsea moved quickly and with urgency because they feared Milan or Barcelona would beat them to the England U19 international.
