Chelsea closing in on transfer for Man United's Garnacho - sources

Chelsea are closing in on a deal for Alejandro Garnacho after stepping up talks with Manchester United over a £40 million ($54m) transfer for the Argentina forward, sources have told ESPN.

Garnacho, who has been told he can leave United this summer, has not featured in Ruben Amorim's team since the end of last season and was omitted from the preseason tour to the United States in order to train with fellow unwanted teammates Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Tyrell Malacia and Antony.

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While Rashford completed a season-long loan move to Barcelona last month, United have been unable to offload any of their other outcasts and Garnacho rejected a move to Bayern Munich earlier this month after making it clear that he only wanted to leave Old Trafford for Chelsea.

The Stamford Bridge club had expressed an interest in signing Garnacho during the January transfer window, but a deal failed to materialise.

Chelsea had been keen to sign the 21-year-old earlier this summer, but sources have said that Enzo Maresca's team were only prepared to pay £30 million ($40m) for Garnacho while United valued the player at £50 million ($67m).

Chelsea's interest had stalled of late due to their attempts to advance outgoings in order to help comply with a UEFA sanction which has forced the club to balance books by offloading a number of players from last season's Conference League-winning squad, most notably Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson.

Talks have now resumed between United and Chelsea over a deal worth between £35 million and £40 million, however, and while sources have said that no agreement has yet been reached, negotiations are progressing and that a transfer could be finalised before next Monday's 7 p.m. BST transfer deadline.

Information from ESPN's James Olley contributed to this report.