Chelsea offer £17M for Duff

Bannor

Chelsea in new Duff bid

Chelsea are set to open talks with Blackburn's Damien Duff after making a new £17m bid for the Republic of Ireland winger.

Blackburn chief executive John Williams confirmed Chelsea had tabled a third offer for Duff after seeing bids of £13m and £15m rejected.

Williams refused to confirm whether the new offer matched the £17m that would trigger the release clause in the four-year contract Duff signed in summer 2002.

But Chelsea now hope they can move to clinch a deal and see off any potential late competition.

Williams admitted the earlier bids were "close" to the figure that would allow Chelsea to open talks with Duff, and that the latest offer topped the £15m that had been rejected.

Who else have Chelsea been linked with?

Duff negotiated a release clause in his contract when he signed a new four-year deal at Blackburn last season.

The Rovers chief executive continued: "It depends how serious Chelsea are about wanting to sign him. There is a release clause in the contract he negotiated last year.

"If conditions are met with the bid naturally we would be obliged to let Damien talk to Chelsea - or any other club who met them and the decision would rest with the player.

"There has been intense press speculation and I don't think it's fair to talk about the amounts."

Blackburn boss Graeme Souness said he was not surprised at the amount of interest in Duff.

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"I don't want to lose Damien - we always knew Damien was a very special player," said Souness.

"We have no intention of selling him and we want to keep him here.

"But when Damien signed his new contract last summer he did so in the knowledge that someone could come in and offer a lot of money."

The London club have money to spend in the transfer market following the takeover at Stamford Bridge by Russian billionaire Abramovich.

A host of other top players from around Europe have been linked with Chelsea and an undisclosed fee - thought to be £6m - has been agreed with West Ham for Glen Johnson.

Bannor

THIRD CHELSEA BID FOR DUFF REBUFFED from Sky Sports

Blackburn Rovers have rejected a third offer from Chelsea, believed to be around £17 million, for their 24-year-old Repulic of Ireland international winger Damien Duff

Chelsea have already had two bids, including one for £15m, turned down by Rovers, and any hopes that they would be granted permission to talk to the player at last have been thwarted.

Duff, 24, is one of the most sought-after players in the Barclaycard Premiership - Liverpool's prolonged interest eventually waned when they acquired Harry Kewell from Leeds, while Manchester United have also been linked with the Republic of Ireland international.

Chelsea have already agreed deals with West Ham for emerging young defender Glen Johnson, who could cost them up to £6 million, and with Real Madrid for midfielder Geremi, at just under £7 million.

The Blues have yet to agree personal terms with either player but both of them are expected to arrive at Stamford Bridge in the near future.

AdMMM

It would be a brilliant buy for Chelsea if we can get him

50Cent

Release clause?

smuckers

well it looks like CFC aren't taking no for an answer, a fourth bid is touted to be on the table.

AngelofFire

its gonna take more than money for chelsea to get what they want by the looks of things most of their bids are being rejected. Rooney £25m Henry £45m Davids £30m Nesta £35m Duff £18m etc. if i had duff in my team i wouldnt let him go for any less than £25m and at least £12m would have to be payed up front

Tellox

Blackburn know how rich chelsea are, and are going to take them for every penny they can..

Xterminator

[

Originally posted by Tellox
Blackburn know how rich chelsea are, and are going to take them for every penny they can..

No.
It's not about money.
Blackburn know that Duff is ir-replaceable.
Thats why they will refuse any offers that dont meet the clause in his contract.
They would rather nobody tried to buy him.

X

growler

apparently , according to the Guardian this morning , the "we can talk now" clause only comes into play at 17.7 million

chelsea are doing the right thing in negotiating slowly , Blackburn can't afford to turn down that kind of money surely ?

come on duff , champions league mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

smuckers

well the fee has been agreed, its up to him now will be a massive signing.

jEt|Dino

kewell > duff

smuckers

The difference between Kewell and Duff is that Kewell goes missing in too many games, Kewell may well score more goals but Duff is a far beter winger.:)

StickyMcGinty

Originally posted by jEt|Dino
kewell > duff

kewell is more complete at the moment, and i agree he goes missing in too many games. but that was for dirty leeds.

duff is quality but kewell has everything duff has but pace

JohnnyBravo

yeah kewel has loyality and passion and a never say die attitude as well as a distinct lack of interest in money

Tellox

Kewell is a finished product, Duff is not.
The finished Duff will most likely be a better player then Kewell

JohnnyBravo

A fully fit duff is better than kewel kewel is a show boat and only ever turns it on when the ca,eras are on him he never tracks back and doesnt even look like he is trying half the time duff when fully fit is a sight to behold he runs at players scores loads of goals and tracks back to defend he is younger than kewel which means he can only get better and he is grounded and doesnt think he is better than he is unlike kewel

growler

kewel will forever be tainted by his time at leeds

come on duff, sign the papers , sign the papers

toughbuk

its better if duff if he forgets about chelsea and sign for utd who are a much better footballing team, chelsea with his all their millions are blackburn in desguise and where are blackburn are now.harry kewell is the bargain of the summer so far

JohnnyBravo

Why would he sign for utd so he could sit on the bench or play out of position on the right of midfield or he could join chelsea and attempt to win the league for the first time in almost fifty years besides we play good attacking football and regardless if youthink we are a blackburn in disguise blackburn sold all their players after they won the league we will not because we a re building for the future buying young players who have proved themselves in the premiership already

toughbuk

yeh true but i really dont think ye will win the league as it take time for a new team to gel.I hope liverpool win the league been a pool supporter and all but we need to be alot more attacking and less naive but they usually blow up around christmas time and go on a bad run and arsenal have money troubles, couldnt even afford kewell, even if he went for only 5 million.Look out for newcastle too, dark horses in my book, definately premiership champs in a few years.

JohnnyBravo

Lad i hate to say it but the same noises were coming out of anfield last year and ye bottled it according to yer manager harry kewel will change the way ye play but you just have to look at smicer to see that wont happen smicer is one of the most disliked players currently wearing a liverpool shirt that and troare byt when he plays for his country he is class and since kewel only ever desides to play in front of cameras i feel the same will happen to him he is still living of the season he had two years ago so ye will revert back to giving it to gerrard to hoof up to owen so he can score i really hope heskey improves this year he has it all pace power but lack of confidence and poor finishing saw him have a bad year last year

toughbuk

yes thats, seems that GH has this nack of turned class players into idiots who are afraid too express themselves

smuckers

I don't think Duff will be too impressed that Ronald Mcdonald is first choice here at CFC he is guaranteed first team football.:)