Chelsea bid £25m to bring Matic BACK to Stamford Bridge !!

Chelsea have made a £25m move to bring Benfica's Nemanja Matic back to Stamford Bridge.

The midfielder first joined Chelsea in 2009 but made just two appearances before leaving for Portugal in 2011 as part of the deal that saw David Luiz arrive at Stamford Bridge.

However, manager Jose Mourinho now sees Matic as the man to install in a defensive midfield role. Sportsmail revealed Chelsea's renewed interest last month and that Mourinho's assistant Jose Marais was due to watch the 26-year-old in Sunday's game against Porto.

Portuguese media reported prior to the game that Matic had refused to join up with the team but he played in a 2-0 win, getting booked, with goals coming from Garay and Rodrigo.

Benfica may yet hold out for more from Chelsea but have a good relationship with the London club and a deal is likely to be struck.

Chelsea hope to utilise the funds brought in from Kevin de Bruyne's expected sale to Wolfsburg.

Jose Mourinho is keen to bring in a defensive midfielder as the Chelsea manager is unwilling to play centre-back Luiz in that role and summer signing Marco van Ginkel is out for the season with a knee ligament injury.