Chelsea Transfer News: Arturo Vidal Fee Reportedly Set Amid Latest Blues Rumours

Arturo Vidal will reportedly cost Chelsea at least £56 million to prise away from Bayern Munich.

That's according to Chilean outlet El Mercurio (h/t Lucas Sposito of Sport Witness), who added Blues boss Antonio Conte has made phone calls to the player, whom the Chelsea board have given the green light to pursue.

The newspaper quoted an unnamed source as saying: "Chelsea have been following Arturo Vidal for a while. He’s one of the signings targeted by Conte and the board have agreed to take him to England."

The 29-year-old was one of Conte's first signings at Juventus in 2011, and the pair won three Serie A titles together in a successful spell before the Italian took over his national side.

Vidal offers an outstanding blend of creativity and physicality in midfield—he's as strong and robust in the tackle as any enforcer, but he can also pick a pass or find the net going forward just as easily.

Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

Indeed, he racked up 48 goals and 25 assists in 171 appearances for the Bianconeri, and in 70 outings for Bayern, he's provided 10 and 14, respectively.

The question is whether the Blues need his services, as they already possess many of the qualities he brings between current options Cesc Fabregas, Nemanja Matic and N'Golo Kante.

The Spaniard has played the least this season with Conte preferring the solidity of the latter two, but as Bleacher Report UK's Garry Hayes and ESPN FC's Liam Twomey noted during Chelsea's 2-0 win over Hull City on Sunday, the Blues miss his presence when he's not on the pitch:

Vidal hasn't always been a guaranteed starter under Carlo Ancelotti in Bavaria this season either—he's started 10 of the 15 Bundesliga games in which he's played and finished 90 minutes in just half of them.

Here's a look at his numbers compared with Chelsea's midfielders, courtesy of Squawka:

	Vidal	Fabregas	Matic	Kante
Apps	15	13	21	21
Minutes	891	522	1,708	1.878
Chances Created	11	22	17	14
Tackles	16	8	27	39
Interceptions	27	8	33	52
Pass Completion	89%	85%	88%	88%

The stats are invariably stacked in Kante and Matic's favour as they've played the most, though Vidal has made the most interceptions per 90 minutes on the field and is behind only Fabregas for chances created and only Kante for successful tackles by the same metric.

Vidal could allow one of Matic or Kante to be sacrificed for a more creative player without losing the solidity they bring in front of the defence, though between Chelsea's three current options, there's enough quality that they're not desperate for another.

That's just as well, because El Mercurio (h/t Sposito) added that Vidal has informed Conte of his desire to to win the UEFA Champions League with Bayern before moving on.

Munich are among the favourites to win the competition each year and Ancelotti has won it three times during his managerial career, but it's far from guaranteed—it could depend on how determined Vidal is to wait for it.