CHELSEA are ready to ditch plans to buy Brazilian forward Hulk after a bidding war started for the player.

The FC Porto star, fancied by the Blues as a replacement for Didier Drogba, is also a target for rich suitors Paris St Germain, according to reports emerging from Portugal.

Chelsea were understood to be ready to pay more than £30million for the player, who is said to be desperate for a move to the Premier League, but Porto value him far higher.

This week, bankrolled French club PSG are reportedly putting together a bid of £43m for the forward.

Chelsea have always been clear that they will not get caught-up in a bidding war for any player they believe to be over-valued, with chief executive Ron Gourlay saying: "We will have a valuation on a player and if we can’t make that work we will drop out."

There was a similar situation last summer, when interest in Tottenham’s Luka Modric was scuppered by the north London club’s far higher valuation of the midfielder.

But with their repeated interest in Portuguese-based players, Chelsea are finding that heavily indebted clubs fight extremely hard for a fee.

Transfer deals for David Luiz , Ramires and even Andre Villas-Boas became protracted, largely because of the economic state of Portugal’s bigger clubs, and their desperation to pay creditors.

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