Report: Sandro tells Juventus he wants to complete £61M Chelsea move

Chelsea is increasingly confident of landing Alex Sandro after the Brazilian told Juventus he wants to complete a transfer to Stamford Bridge, the Evening Standard's Simon Johnson reports.

Juventus chief executive Giuseppe Marotta revealed last week that he'd received a "substantial offer" for the left-back, with the Blues widely dubbed as the bidding party. It would apparently amount to a club-record move for Chelsea at £61 million, with Sandro taking home a weekly pay packet of £150,000 - a salary that Juventus cannot match.

It's understood the Old Lady hasn't given up the fight to retain Sandro, but is already drawing up a list of potential targets to replace the 26-year-old. His possible departure leaves Juventus worryingly bare in the full-back positions following Dani Alves' exit amid well-documented links to Manchester City.

Sandro was a menace on the left-hand side of Massimiliano Allegri's new-look back-four last season, but before that made his name as a wing-back. He would likely be deployed there for Chelsea, perhaps unfairly taking the spot of Marcos Alonso after the Spaniard played a key part in the London outfit's procurement of the 2016-17 Premier League title.

Elsewhere in the Blues' business this window, there is less positive news from the pursuits of Sandro's teammate Leonardo Bonucci and Virgil van Dijk. The former is considering staying in Turin, while Southampton's princely £70-million asking price for Van Dijk is a deterrent.

Bringing in a centre-back would appear likely, however. Options were slim behind Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz, and veteran Gary Cahill last season, and reports from Sky Sports state that Bournemouth is increasingly confident of completing a club-record £20-million signing of Nathan Ake.