Chelsea have presented Manchester United with a new counter-offer as the Mason Mount transfer saga rumbles on.
United submitted a third bid for the England midfielder, Erik ten Hag’s top summer target, on Friday worth around £55million.
That was styled as one final ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ offer, with the Red Devils said to be willing to walk away from discussions altogether if the latest proposal was not successful.
United had previously seen a £40m bid for Mount turned down, followed by a second offer worth £45m with a further £5m in add-ons.
Standard Sport understands that their third offer has also now been rejected by Chelsea, who have instead countered with their own proposal worth an initial £58m plus £7m in add-ons.
Chelsea have also offered to meet with United in person in order to smooth over protracted negotiations for Mount, on whom the Blues had initially placed a £70m valuation despite him entering the final 12 months of his contract with no extension materialising after talks last season.
Mount hopes a compromise can be found with United and he will likely leave Stamford Bridge on a free transfer next summer if an agreement isn’t reached, with no other clubs expected to come in despite previous interest from Arsenal and Liverpool.
Incoming Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino wants the 24-year-old to stay, but understands he is powerless to affect the situation as it stands. United, meanwhile, want Mount signed and available in time for their pre-season tour to the United States in July.
The Blues have a deadline of June 30 if they want to include Mount’s sale in their financial accounts for the 2022/23 campaign, with Kai Havertz set to join Arsenal for £65m and Mateo Kovacic heading to Manchester City in a £25m deal.
Chelsea are also poised to offload several players to Saudi Arabia in Edouard Mendy, Hakim Ziyech and Kalidou Koulibaly, while they will also try to sell the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Christian Pulisic and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, plus Etham Ampadu, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Marc Cucurella and Malang Sarr could all leave along with captain Cesar Azpilicueta. There is also interest from Italy in Trevoh Chalobah.
In terms of incomings, Villarreal forward Nicolas Jackson will have a medical at Chelsea this weekend ahead of a £30m switch to the Premier League from LaLiga and the club have also held positive talks with Brighton over Moises Caicedo, their no1 midfield target.
