Chelsea manager Antonio Conte will have to stump up a whopping £50m to land AC Milan defender Alessio Romagnoli in January as he looks to further improve his back line, according to reports from The Sun.
The 21-year-old was repeatedly linked with a move to Stamford Bridge over the summer, before the former Juventus boss splashed £34m to bring former Blue, David Luiz, back to West London after a spell in Paris with French champions, Paris Saint-Germain.
The centre-half, who joined the Serie A side from Roma last summer, for a fee of around £21m and has made 46 appearances since making the move.
The 2014/15 Premier League champions reportedly had multiple approaches for the Italian rebuffed over the summer, with the final effort rumoured to be around the £35m mark.
Should Conte pay the £50m asking price, it would match the record for the most expensive defender deal, set by PSG when Brazilian defender David Luiz made the move to the Parc des Princes from Chelsea.