Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri makes £50m transfer target Nabil Fekir a promise in call to the exciting forward

MAURIZIO SARRI is reportedly so keen on signing Nabil Fekir, that he personally picked up the phone in a bid to entice the midfielder to Stamford Bridge.

Fekir has been linked with a move to Chelsea, since a deal with Liverpool fell through at the final hour, but Sarri isn't resting on his laurels.

The Blues' boss made it clear to the Lyon midfielder that he would play a key role in his squad and outlined his ambitions for the future.

According to , Sarri is concerned that Bayern Munich are circling and wanted to ensure he got first refusal.

And as a result, a £50m offer is being prepared in a bid to bolster Sarri's squad and compete with their domestic rivals on the European stage.

Before rumours of a move to Chelsea emerged, the 25-year-old was heavily linked with a move to the Blues' Premier League rivals Liverpool.

But an ongoing knee injury caused the Champions League runners-up to abandon their bid.

Fekir is wanted by several clubs across Europe and it's not hard to see why.

The attacking midfielder has already bagged four goals for Lyon, across all competitions this season and scored twice from 18 appearances for France.

Fekir's pace, exciting style of play and ability to expertly read a game is some of the reason clubs are on standby, but any prospective club will need to splash the cash to buy the Lyon captain.

The World Cup winner is under contract with Lyon until 2020, but he has done nothing to downplay rumours that he could soon be swapping Ligue 1 for the Premier League.

Earlier this year, he said: "What happened with Liverpool is straight out of my head, I turned the page.

"We must not stop at this, we must move forward. There are things that must be accepted.

"My future? We have not discussed an extension yet, we will see what happens."