Chelsea make important step towards attacking midfielder transfer with €40m move now more likely | OneFootball

Chelsea have taken an important step towards signing Rayan Cherki from Lyon, Caughtoffside have revealed in an exclusive this evening.

The Blues have apparently been in talks with “intermediaries” and those close to Cherki to sound out his interest in a move. With the green light from them, we have now progressed to the next stage, with Chelsea now “negotiating directly with Lyon” according to the website.

This move looks like it could happen very quickly, with Lyon pressured into a sale by their financial situation and Chelsea suddenly finding their squad a little thin after a summer of successful sales.

Apparently the French club want €50m and Chelsea want to pay €40m. As always, we’d expect a bit of back and forth, with the price eventually settling at about €42m with of add ons and bonuses.

While our progress on finding a goalkeeper, a striker and a central midfielder has been very slow, this transfer could move at lightening speed, especially given the positive relations between the two clubs, who interacted in January when Malo Gusto made the same move.

AC Milan are also noted as an interested party, but given they’ve just bought Christian Pulisic from us, we will be very much in control of this deal.