CHELSEA have opened talks with South Korean star Chu-Young Park over an £8 million move to Stamford Bridge.
The 25-year-old forward, who currently plays his club football in France with AS Monaco, met with Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti, sporting director Frank Arnesen and chief executive Ron Gourlay hours before their opening-day drubbing of West Brom to discuss a deal.
It is now thought that the Premier League champions have 48 hours to officially lodge their interest (i.e. make an offer) with the Ligue 1 side.
Chu-Young ‘shirt sales’ Park is a huge star in his homeland, second only to Manchester United midfielder Ji-Sung Park, and it is thought that Chelsea may use the signing of the forward to boost their standing in the potentially lucrative far Eastern market – which is dismally cynical reasoning in anyone’s book.
Chelsea are also thought to be wary of the fact that by signing Park, club sponsors Samsung (who are a South Korean company) would be encouraged to extend their deal which currently expires in 2013. Lovely.