Premier League: Chelsea bid for Alessio Romagnoli rejected

Chelsea have made an offer worth 30 million pounds for Italian central defender Alessio Romagnoli but AC Milan rejected the bid. The Serie A club want to keep the 21-year-old defender at least until January. The youngster joined AC Milan from Roma last summer and immediately became a first-team regular, making 34 league appearances last season. He is regarded as one of the best young defenders in the country. New Chelsea boss Antonio Conte insisted that the club need at least another central defender. He spoke to the press after Chelsea's 2-1 at Watford last weekend and said: "If you look now at our squad, we have only five defenders - four that started today and an academy player Ola Aina. Ola is very good - he has great potential - but with any young player you must work to put them in the first team. Sure, he has a good future. If one defender is injured or banned, then we are in trouble, but the club and me we know this and we are talking every day to improve the squad. The Blues have also tried to land Napoli central defender Kalidou Koulibaly, but the Italian club are reluctant to let him go. Chelsea have just John Terry, Kurt Zouma and Gary Cahill available for the two spots as central defenders, but full-back Branislav Ivanovic can also cover that role. However, if Conte will want to implement the system that he has used at the Italian national team he will need three central defenders, while the full-backs will move into a more advanced wing-back position. Chelsea are 9/2 at Bet365 to win the Premier League title this season.