Antonio Conte's hands Chelsea his FIVE-man shortlist costing a cool £300m this summer.

According to this report, Antonio Conte has given Chelsea a five-man shortlist of players he wants the club to sign this summer at a cost of £300m.

Romelu Lukaku, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Marco Verratti, Alex Sandro and Leonardo Bonucci are the players he wants and it looks as though he has secured deals for two of them already with Romelu Lukaku and Tiemoue Bakayoko expected to sign by the end of next week for £70m and £40m respectively.

It's a massive amount of money and if Chelsea can pull off deals to sign three or four of them, a massive signal of intent from the manager as he prepares for Chelsea's return to the Champions League next season.

The massive outlay looks to be offset by some key player sales this summer adding to the transfer fees recouped from the sales of Oscar, Mikel, Patrick Bamford and Branislav Ivanovic.

Diego Costa AND Cesc Fabregas have reportedly been told that they no longer feature in the managers plans beyond this season with both due to be sold for a hefty profit on the outlay the club has made to bring them here. In addition, it's being reported that Nemanja Matic will be offered to Juventus to convince them to part with Bonucci and Sandro this summer.

Add those sales to the monies we already have from previous player sales AND the new increased TV/Prize money Chelsea have won this past season and Chelsea will have no issues with the massive outlay to operate within the FFP constraints to which all clubs abide by.

We have read for many weeks that Conte has identified that he wants another centre back, a wing back, two midfielders and a striker and these names would more than fit the bill.

We have seen the goal scoring impact that Romelu Lukaku has made in the Premier League, the impact that Tiemoue Bakayoko has made this season with Monaco winning the French title and reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League. We know all about Marco Verratti, of the class of Leonardo Bonucci and of the impact that Alex Sandro has made at Juventus having taken over from Patrice Evra.

It's exciting times this summer and as with any transfer window, there are all sorts of rumours flying about so it's important to take most of these reports we are hearing with a pinch of salt. However, these are the same names being linked with Chelsea for a while now and it does seem to have some real substance about them.

Just how many can you see us signing? How many do you think will leave us?

Only time will tell!

Article Source: The Sun.