Cagliari reportedly accepted a £44m bid from Chelsea for Nicolo Barella, only for the player to reject a mid-season switch to Stamford Bridge.

The 21-year-old was strongly linked with a move to West London in January as a replacement for Monaco-bound midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

Chelsea were desperate to get a deal over the line before last week's deadline and were nearly successful in doing so, but TuttoMercatoWeb claims that the Italy international wanted to stay put.

Barella is said to be keen on staying in his homeland and could be holding out for a move to one of Napoli or Inter Milan, who were also linked last month.

Cagliari youth product Barella has already featured 51 times in Serie A, having made his breakthrough towards the end of the 2014-15 campaign.