Glen Johnson reckons Chelsea should sign Frenkie De Jong instead of Alex Scott. The Bournemouth midfielder was heavily linked with a move to Stamford Bridge in the summer transfer window as Xabi Alonso prepared for life without Enzo Fernandez, but a deal failed to materialise.

football.london understands that the Blues were interested in signing Scott, whose contract at the Vitality Stadium expires in June 2028. Chelsea had a £64m bid for the 23-year-old rejected, with the Cherries insistent that he's not for sale.

However, it's understood that Bournemouth's stance has since softened slightly; they would now consider parting ways with Scott if they were to receive an offer in the region of £100m. In a desperate effort to fend off potential suitors, the Cherries have tried to extend the England international's deal, to little success.

It's understood that Scott turned down a new contract from Bournemouth in July, aware of interest from the likes of the Blues and Liverpool. Although the Englishman showed great promise in the early stages of the season, before suffering a hamstring injury, Johnson would rather see Chelsea sign De Jong from Barcelona.

Make sure you never miss the latest Chelsea news and opinion by making Football London one of your Google preferred sources.

"If Frenkie de Jong is fit, he’s a great player," the two-time Premier League winner told Action Network. "I don’t know how he is with the recent injury, but he’s been out for a while, and how the deal would go in terms of finances, God knows what he would cost, but as long as he’s fit, then I think he’d be a great signing."

De Jong marked his long-awaited return to action at the weekend after five months on the sidelines due to a knee ligament injury. The 29-year-old midfielder was brought off the bench during the second half of Barcelona's 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid in El Clásico.

It was his first game in 155 days, having not played since May, when Hansi Flick's side lost 3-1 to Valencia on the final day of last season. Although Johnson would rather Chelsea break the bank for De Jong, he accepts that Scott is 'definitely on the right path'.

The former Blues defender said: "Alex Scott is a good player, but I haven’t seen enough of him to say if he’s at the top-four level. We don’t know yet, but he’s definitely shown some glimpses and started the season very well, and obviously got himself in the England fold, and that’s only going to boost his confidence.

"I think I need to see some more, but I think he’s definitely on the right path to be playing for one of the top teams."

Interestingly, earlier this month, the Bournemouth owner promised supporters that the club are working to keep Scott on the south coast. In an interview with talkSPORT, Bill Foley said: "I think earning that kind of number should be commonplace, and we should be prepared to meet that challenge.

"At this point, we're convinced we're the right place for Alex to be and to stay, and we'll keep on addressing the contract issues with Alex as we move through this year. We'd love to have Alex stay here and sign a new contract and be part of this team for the long haul.

"We haven't given up, but sometimes players get stars in their eyes, and they think that Chelsea or Manchester City is the right place to go. We believe [that] if we keep on buying infrastructure and a common thread of leadership across the team, then we will start keeping more and more players.

"People will be surprised about that, and they'll be able to earn substantial wages here. We have to respect the fact that a lot of our players are younger, and they've come to Bournemouth with the expectation that they'll get time to play and perhaps move on to a bigger team.

"We recognise that my job is to make players feel comfortable and provide them with the infrastructure they need to understand that. We're serious about what we're doing. We're in a brand new performance centre, and it is as state-of-the-art as they come.

"We're happy with where we are, and we believe we'll start making progress in terms of retaining key talent. It may not be this year, it may not be next year in terms of everyone, but we're close.

"We have to prove to the players this is a place they want to be and that they want to stay and they don't want to move on because that's the way we really build a successful team..."