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Chelsea 'want to swap Christian Pulisic for Roma's Nicolo Zaniolo' but Jose Mourinho is desperate to keep the Italian midfielder after 'he vetoed a £40m switch to Tottenham' earlier this summer

Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea have joined the race to sign Italian international Nicolo Zaniolo from Roma.

The 23-year-old midfielder has already been the target of interested from numerous clubs this window, including Tottenham.

Spurs had reportedly reached a deal with Roma over Zaniolo's transfer that would see the midfielder join initially on loan for a season before signing permanently at the end of the campaign for a fee of around £40million.

However, despite the Roma board reportedly being willing to allow the deal to go ahead, Jose Mourinho, unhappy with the financial arrangements of the loan, stepped in at the eleventh hour to block the move from his former club.