Chelsea will step up efforts to sign Moises Caicedo after accepting Manchester United’s £60million offer for Mason Mount.
The Blues will now bank more than £200m in players sales in June to help fund efforts to sign their main midfield target from Brighton.
The 21-year-old will be Chelsea’s costliest deal of the transfer window, with Brighton asking for £100m after benchmarking their midfielder’s worth against Declan Rice’s £105m move to Arsenal.
Chelsea have already had a £60m offer rejected, but there is a hope that a fee of around £80m can be agreed.
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Arsenal had a £75m bid for the Ecuador international turned down in January, but Brighton have a verbal agreement in place that they will let their prized asset leave this summer for a substantial sum.
Caicedo is keen to move to Stamford Bridge and has broadly agreed personal terms.
Chelsea want to sign more than one midfielder after Mount’s exit — alongside the departures of Kai Havertz, Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kante and Ruben Loftus-Cheek — left them short in the middle of the pitch.
Celta Vigo’s Gabri Veiga is considered a key attacking midfielder target and has a £34.6m release clause. Southampton’s Romeo Lavia and Everton’s Amadou Onana have been sounded out as alternatives to Caicedo.
United officials yesterday sealed Mount’s transfer to Old Trafford after face-to-face talks with Chelsea. They will pay £55m up front, with a further £5m due in performance-related add-ons.
Mount has signed a five-year deal with an option for an extra year. He will earn £250,000 a week, while bonuses could push that up to £300,000.
The 24-year-old was one of the lowest-paid players at Stamford Bridge on just £80,000 a week and refused to extend his contract, which had one year left to run. Chelsea opted to sell Mount to fund investment in the squad. Havertz left in similar circumstances, having refused to sign new contract, while Kovacic was not offered a new deal.
Chelsea have already signed Christopher Nkunku for £52m from RB Leipzig, while Villarreal striker Nicolas Jackson has completed his medical after a £32m fee was agreed last week.
Mauricio Pochettino is open to working with Kepa Arrizabalaga as his No1 but Chelsea are still weighing up whether to sign a new goalkeeper.
