Chelsea have switched to two alternative targets due to Alex Teixeira’s price-tag

Liverpool’s apparent rivals in the chase for Alex Teixeira, Chelsea, are not interested in Alex Teixeira due to Shakhtar’s hefty asking price, writes James Pearce in the Echo.

BBC Sport claim that Shakhtar have set a huge £39m asking price for the 26-year-old Brazilian – who’s lit up the Ukrainian league this term.

SEE MORE:
Javier Mascherano sentenced to one year in prison and fined €815,000
Eastern European journo explains Teixeira’s skills, attributes and misreported injury: ‘I’m drooling…’

Liverpool have made a £24.5m bid, says the same report, but with Ian Ayre flying out to Florida to negotiate – only time will tell if we’ll reach an agreement with Shakhtar, and whether the player fancies teaming up with old Vasco de Gama team-mate Coutinho on Merseyside!

Instead of Teixeira, Chelsea want to sign one of either Ezequiel Lavezzi or Alex Pato this January to solve their forward woes. Diego Costa’s struggling for form and fitness and Loic Remy and Falcao are clearly not long-term options.

Still, we’d be more than happy if they went for either of Lavezzi or Pato and gave us a free run at Teixeira.

In 2013, they poached Willian from our grasp, with Steven Gerrard admitting via Sky Sports that he even tried to convince the Brazilian to sign.

If we can complete the Teixeira deal and the attacker can achieve the success Willian has with Chelsea, we’ll be delighted.