Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly has given up hope of joining Chelsea before Wednesday's transfer deadline, a source close to the player has told ESPN FC.
Koulibaly, 25, has been near the top of Antonio Conte's list of desired defensive reinforcements all summer, but Napoli owner Aurelio de Laurentiis' refusal to budge on his £60 million asking price brought talks with Chelsea to a halt.
The Blues do not intend to meet De Laurentiis' valuation of Koulibaly, who has left Italy to join up with the Senegal squad for the international break in the expectation that he will still be a Napoli player when the window shuts.
Earlier this month, Conte had said: "If a player deserves us to pay [lots of] money, then it's right. But for a medium player, it's right to pay the right price, not £20m-30m over. That's not right. The money is not mine, but I don't like it the same. I don't find it right.
"At this moment it's very difficult to buy because if you ask a player of the medium level, they might ask for £55m. For this reason, it's a crazy market. It's very difficult to enter the market with these prices and in this condition."
Conte's search for defensive reinforcements in the summer transfer window has become increasingly desperate in recent days, with Chelsea heavily linked to Fiorentina's Marcos Alonso, Torino's Nikola Maksimovic and Lazio's Stefan de Vrij after seeing two formal bids for Alessio Romagnoli rejected by AC Milan.
Saturday's 3-0 victory over Burnley saw Chelsea keep their first clean sheet at Stamford Bridge since November, and Conte has on several occasions voiced his concern at having just five fit senior defenders to pick from -- a number that includes 19-year-old academy graduate Ola Aina.
Baba Rahman was allowed to join Schalke on loan at the start of August only a year after moving to Stamford Bridge from Augsburg for around £20m, while American youngster Matt Miazga is also expected to leave Stamford Bridge on a season-long deal if Conte can secure defensive signings.