Chelsea rival Spurs in battle to sign Barkley

Conte joins chase for £25m Everton midfielder Tottenham turn sights on £13m full-back Toljan

Tottenham Hotspur face mounting competition from Chelsea for Ross Barkley, but do not want to pay more than £25 million for the Everton and England midfielder.

Everton valued Barkley at £50million at the beginning of the transfer window, despite the 23-year-old having only one year to run on his contract. Manager Ronald Koeman has since said the player’s Goodison career is over. Barkley has not featured in preseason, due in part to his requiring surgery on a groin injury.

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy believes, with less than a month of the transfer window remaining, he can land Barkley for half Everton’s original asking price.

But Chelsea could rival their bid. Antonio Conte, the champions’ head coach, has been promised a minimum of three more signings and wants one new wing-back, a midfielder and a forward.

Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia has spoken to Leicester City about Danny Drinkwater, while Alex Oxlade-chamberlain’s situation at Arsenal is being monitored as the versatile midfielder has only 12 months remaining on his deal.

But, as Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino believes, there is a feeling inside Stamford Bridge that Barkley could prove to be the bargain of a transfer window in which prices have been hugely inflated.

Chelsea would have no problem in paying Barkley over £100,000 a week, but Conte may not be able to promise the same playing opportunities as Pochettino, whose track record for promoting young English players is attractive.

Manchester United are also monitoring Barkley, but have not yet shown the same level of interest as Tottenham and Chelsea.

Tottenham are yet to make a single signing this summer, despite selling Kyle Walker to Manchester City for £50million, but Pochettino is confident he will land three new players before the transfer window shuts.

Other than Barkley, Pochettino wants a new right-back to help to cover Walker’s departure, but Spurs are not actively pursuing Valencia’s Joao Cancelo.

Hoffenheim’s £13 million-rated Jeremy Toljan is considered a more realistic target, while both Cancelo and Paris St-germain’s Serge Aurier are of interest to Chelsea.

Conte and Pochettino reiterated their desire to bring in new players before the transfer window shuts, with the Chelsea manager saying: “I hope to be able to improve our squad. The transfer market is not finished yet.

“We want to be competitive and we want to fight for the title again. The club knows my priorities.”

On Tottenham’s hunt for new blood, Pochettino said: “We need players who can challenge our starting 11. We need to bring new energy and strengthen our squad, everyone knows that.”