Chelsea will reopen talks with Brighton & Hove Albion over a possible move for midfielder Moises Caicedo this summer.
The 21-year-old has been identified as the Blues' priority signing in the centre of midfield and the club have been pushing for his signature in recent weeks. Ever since missing out on Manuel Ugarte, Chelsea have switched their attention firmly to Caicedo despite rival interest from Arsenal and Manchester United.
Chelsea, however, are the favourites to sign the Ecuador international, who has four years remaining on his contract down at the Amex Stadium. football.london understands Chelsea and Caicedo have already verbally agreed on personal terms to see him make a big-money move to Stamford Bridge, but the problem at the moment is the Blues and Brighton are yet to compromise on a fee.
The two clubs have been in negotiations over a deal with Chelsea reluctant to pay Brighton's £80million asking price. The Blues, though, may look to find a solution where they do not pay one bulk fee of £80million, but instead split it via add-ons and instalments.
It's a method they used with Enzo Fernandez. Chelsea signed the Argentine World Cup winner in the January transfer window for a club-record fee of £106million, but that will be paid in six instalments, football.london understands. It helps with Financial Fair Play and it also helps the Blues with their transfer budget for one specific window.
In Fernandez, Chelsea have got a midfield talent who is arguably already world-class and at 22-years-old, he still has so much time to grow and develop into an ever better player. In the few months he has been at Stamford Bridge, it has taken him virtually no time to settle into a different culture and a more physical league.
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The Argentina international has played as a No.6, as well as a box-to-box midfielder with someone else playing behind him in the deeper midfield position. He has flourished in both. Going forward, he looks to make things happen and when sitting, he dictates the tempo of the game.
Mauricio Pochettino, his Argentine compatriot, officially begins his new role as Chelsea head coach at the weekend and he will be looking forward to working with Fernandez. In fact, Pochettino's description of his "perfect midfielder", used to describe Harry Winks when the pair worked together at Tottenham, fits the bill when it comes to Fernandez.
"For me, he is the perfect midfielder, who can play box-to-box and like a holding midfielder," Pochettino said on Winks back in 2017. "He has the quality and the capacity to play and use the demand of the game and read it.
"He's so clever, and we are so happy that he starts to feel better now because he provides to the team qualities we do not have. He is completely different to our other midfielders like [Victor] Wanyama, Eric Dier, Mousa Dembele and Moussa Sissoko.
"He has qualities to add to the team that are completely different. He is one of the options we have and we celebrate that, because to have the possibility to have him on the team provides us with more quality and more options to play in a different way."
Chelsea are working to try and find the perfect partner for Enzo in time for next season. Mateo Kovacic has now left the club with the Croatian completing a £25million move to Manchester City on Tuesday evening. N'Golo Kante also completed a move away from Chelsea recently with the Frenchman moving to Saudi Arabia on a free transfer after the expiry of his contract.
Meanwhile, fellow midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek is also expected to depart. The 27-year-old has agreed a deal to join AC Milan, with Chelsea set to pocket around £18m for the midfielder's signature.
The future of Conor Gallagher also remains up in the air. The England international has plenty of interest from elsewhere in the Premier League and if the right offer comes Chelsea's way, the club are not expected to stand in Gallagher's way.
Talks have been held with Southampton over a deal to sign Romeo Lavia. However, things have gone pretty quiet over the last week or so, with Chelsea firmly switching their attention to Caicedo. There is, though, scope for the club to try and sign both midfielders given the mass exodus of players in that position.
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