Chelsea muscle in on £30million Everton target Axel Witsel

CHELSEA may scupper Everton’s hopes of signing Belgium midfielder Axel Witsel.

The £30million-rated 27-year-old plays for Russian outfit Zenit St Petersburg and the Toffees appeared to be in pole position to get him as part of new boss Ronald Koeman’s £100million summer spending spree.

But now Koeman’s bid to bring him to Goodison Park could be in trouble with the Stamford Bridge club entering the race for his services.

Chelsea have been trying to sign Witsel’s Belgian midfield team-mate Radja Nainggolan from Roma.

They are believed to have already failed with two bids for him, the last one said to be around the £26m mark.

Now it appears they have turned their attention to Witsel, who has scored seven times in 69 appearances for his country.

Witsel scored six goals and provided two assists in 45 appearances for Zenit last season.

In four seasons with the Russian Premier League giants, he has scored 15 times in 105 appearances.