Barcelona have made Chelsea a cash-plus-player deal to land World Cup finalist N'Golo Kante, according to Sky Sports.

What's the story, then?

Sky Sports claim that the Catalan giants have submitted a bid which includes an unknown monetary sum as well as outcast midfielder Andre Gomes as they seek to take advantage of Chelsea's lack of Champions League football by landing one of their prized assets.

They say that Barca value the Portuguese international - who is attracting interest from Juventus and Chelsea's London rivals Arsenal - at £17.5m and hope to use him to part with less cash in the deal.

The report says that Barcelona are waiting for a response from the Chelsea board but it is unlikely that they will be willing to part with such a key player.

Disastrous start to Sarri's reign

Chelsea have let their managerial situation drag on for too long and now Maurizio Sarri only has four weeks to get his house in order ahead of an attempt to get back into the Champions League.

That means that losing Kante would absolutely pull the rug from underneath the Blues' preparations.

If the worst did happen and Kante were to leave, a swap deal to get his replacement in the one swoop would be ideal, but the calibre has to be higher than Gomes, who is talented but has lost his way and cannot hope to match the energy or discipline of the former Leicester ace.

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