According to a report on Goal, Manchester City are ramping up the pursuit of AC Milan winger and Portugal World Cup star Rafael Leao.

The Chelsea transfer target currently earns around £28,000 a week at AC Milan and Manchester City are reportedly ready to offer the winger a salary worth over £200,000 a week to make the move to the Etihad Stadium.

Manchester City’s offer for Leao is reportedly almost twice as much AC Milan are offering the 23 year old to extend his contract with the Italian side.

Leao’s current contract with AC Milan runs till June 2024, and AC Milan will be under pressure to sell the winger next summer if he doesn’t sign a new contract.

Meanwhile, Graeme Souness has urged Chelsea to sign Argentina World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister, who plays for Brighton in the Premier League.

“The Premier League returns on Boxing Day and there will be a few coming back from the World Cup with their tails up, and some others in need of being picked up,” Souness told the Daily Mail.

“I bet there will be no player feeling more confident than Brighton’s Alexis Mac Allister. It is very easy to focus on how fabulous Messi was for Argentina, but in the games I covered, Mac Allister was their best player.

“The ball he played for their second goal in the final, for Angel Di Maria, was sublime. Messi put him away around the corner. He took one look, had a couple more touches and never looked again before squaring the most perfect pass for Di Maria to put it past Hugo Lloris. Wonderful.

“He’s a top-four player and the big guys will be looking at him now and thinking, ‘We’ll have some of that’. He has proven he can play at the highest level and has already done it in the Premier League.

“There is very little risk attached to this boy. He can create, score and works his socks off – that type of player, they are hard to find.

“At 23, Brighton won’t be able to keep him for long and good luck trying to negotiate a new contract. I’m just disappointed he’s not playing for Scotland with a name like that!”