Asmir Begovic to Chelsea: Blues confident they can tempt Stoke No 1 to sit on the bench with £75,000-a-week offer

Chelsea have made a second offer of £8m

Asmir Begovic (GETTY IMAGES)

Chelsea are growing in confidence that Stoke keeper Asmir Begovic will agree to become their new back-up keeper to Thibaut Courtois, writes Simon Johnson in the Evening Standard.

The Blues are still negotiating over the size of the fee, having had an offer worth £6m turned down earlier this week by Stoke, who are asking for £10million.

A bid in the region of £8m has now been lodged and Stoke are considering whether to accept it.

Chelsea were also facing a fight to convince Begovic to accept being a regular on the bench at the age of just 28.

But they are prepared to offer him a four-year deal worth £75,000-a-week to convince him to move to Stamford Bridge and will also reassure him he will get game-time, just as Petr Cech did last term.

Cech, who has joined Arsenal for £11m, made 16 appearances in all competitions, including three matches in the Champions League and the Capital One Cup Final.

Aston Villa are also still keen on the Bosnia international after having a £5m offer turned down themselves, but are unlikely to be able to compete financially with Chelsea.