Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has annoyed Fiorentina with his bid to sign World Cup star Sofyan Amrabat, seeing the phone call end ‘abruptly’

Fiorentina have been frustrated by Chelsea owner Todd Boehly’s solo efforts to sign World Cup star Sofyan Amrabat on transfer deadline day.

The US billionaire reportedly took it upon himself to try and secure the Moroccan midfielder on loan, but a phone call ended ‘abruptly’.

Chelsea broke a number of transfer records with surprising winter spending, including the most by a club in a January window at over £300m, and the UK transfer record with the purchase of 106.8 million pounds from Enzo Fernandez to Benfica.

The Blues have bought eight new players to take their total spending under Boehly and Clearlake Capital ownership to a record £600m for a single season.

But there was one player they didn’t cross the line, despite Boehly’s best efforts.

The New York Times reports that as the Blues finalized a move for Fernandez on deadline day, Boehly decided to follow up on an email sent by the club’s recruitment team to Fiorentina.

Amrabat has been linked with a number of clubs after a strong World Cup performance at the heart of the Moroccan midfield, with Boehly agreed on a loan deal.

The New York Times says: “The Italian club wanted to keep Amrabat and even if they were interested in selling, they wouldn’t consider letting their star player leave for anything other than a bonus and ongoing fee.

“Boehly said Fiorentina’s eight-figure asking price was unreasonable.

“An Italian team executive responded by asking how he would feel if another club showed up on the last day of the transfer window and tried to poach one of Chelsea’s most valuable assets on the cheap.

“The call and the negotiation ended abruptly.”

It’s one of the few occasions since taking over the Blues where Boehly hasn’t gone his own way.

Chelsea managed to beat Arsenal to the £80million signing of Mykhailo Mudryk in January, while teams such as Leicester and Brighton were forced to buckle when Wesley Fofana and Marc Cucurella were handed big money.