Chelsea have made progress in talks to sign Moises Caicedo but Brighton are now holding the London club to a demand of £90m basic fee. The Blues would then have to add a further £10m to be made up in bonuses and expected clauses. The saga has continued with little movement throughout the summer, as Chelsea have proven reluctant to go beyond £80m. While Brighton, who rarely deviate from their initial asking price, have seen the nature of the talks revolve around pushing Chelsea to go closer to their valuation. There has now been some breakthrough on the structure of a potential deal though, but the expectation is that the Stamford Bridge hierarchy will eventually have to go further and make a £90m-plus offer. Chelsea are hoping to get it done before Sunday's season opener at home to Liverpool, as Mauricio Pochettino is eager to add more energy to his midfield. Chelsea have meanwhile made a £48m bid for Romeo Lavia, as they hope to beat Liverpool in the race for the the 19-year-old Southampton midfielder. Pochettino may look to partner Enzo Fernandez with Conor Gallagher to take on Jurgen Klopp’s side following a string of departures this summer. The Blues lost N'Golo Kante on a free transfer, Mateo Kovacic joined Manchester City and Ruben Loftus-Cheek signed for AC Milan. Mason Mount, who would ideally not have played so deep for the Blues anyway, joined Manchester United, while Denis Zakaria departed after his loan expired, returning to Juventus. Nonetheless, the Blues have a number of youthful options, with Lesley Ugochukwu signed from Rennes, Carney Chukwuemeka and Andrey Santos, who arrived this summer after returning to Vasco da Gama on loan following a deal to sign the Brazilian in January. Caicedo’s arrival would also allow Fernandez to push further forward and influence the game in the final third. The Argentine World Cup winner swapped the No.5 jersey for the coveted No.8, previously worn by Frank Lampard, this summer. Read More Chelsea make Romeo Lavia bid in attempt to beat Liverpool in transfer race West Ham enter race for Folarin Balogun as Arsenal set transfer price Barcelona explore sensational Neymar return as PSG set price for Brazilian superstar Chelsea make Romeo Lavia bid in attempt to beat Liverpool in transfer race Chelsea confirm Axel Disasi signing to cure defensive woes Chelsea agree deal with Brighton to sign goalkeeper Robert Sanchez

Patrick Peterson couldn't resist a headline-making opportunity, stepping all over ex-Vikings teammate Justin Jefferson in the process.What did one ex-Viking say to the other Viking? You're not that good, anymore. That was the gist of Patrick Peterson's snarky, slap-in-the-face ins...

Juventus will be fined 718,000 euros but will agree not to make any appeals as part of a plea bargain with the Italian soccer federation after the club and seven former team directors were charged with alleged fraud for the way they handled player salary cuts during the coronavirus pandemic

The BBC has apologised after one of its reporters asked Morocco’s football captain an “inappropriate” question about her team's sexuality. In Morocco, acts between members of the same sex, referred to as “sexual deviancy”, are punishable with up to three years in prison, according to Human Rights Watch. With that in mind, a BBC reporter asked what we imagine was a very dangerous question indeed before the team played their World Cup match against Germany on Monday. “In Morocco it’s illegal to have a gay relationship. Do you have any gay players in your squad, and what’s life like for them in Morocco?” the BBC reporter asked. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In response to the question, Ghizlane Chebbak winced, removed her earpiece and looked to her coach, Reynald Pedros, before laughing. A Fifa official interjected: “Sorry, this is a very political question,” and asked the reporter to stick to questions relating to football. “No, it’s not political, it’s about people,” the reporter replied. “Please let her answer the question.” On Tuesday, a BBC spokesperson said: “We recognise that the question was inappropriate. We had no intention to cause any harm or distress.” Morocco’s debut at the tournament made it the first Arab and North African team to qualify for the Women’s World Cup. They lost to Germany 6-0 but have a chance to redeem themselves in their next two group games against South Korea and Germany respectively. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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