Tiemoue Bakayoko expected to join Chelsea from Monaco 
Matt Law, football news correspondent
10 JUNE 2017 • 12:08PM
Chelsea are closing in on a £35million deal to sign Tiemoue Bakayoko from Monaco with the midfielder expected to travel to England to complete the switch. Head coach Antonio Conte identified Bakayoko as one of his main summer targets some months ago and Chelsea have made significant progress on the transfer over the past few days.
Chelsea officially opened talks with Monaco over Bakayoko last month, but negotiations had slowed down over the Ligue 1 club’s £43m valuation and the 22-year-old’s wage demands.
But the Blues have made a breakthrough over the fee and Bakayoko is ready to accept Chelsea’s terms and undergo a medical. Chelsea’s move for Bakayoko also sparked talks over striker Michy Batshuayi moving to Monaco, either on loan or permanently. Batshuayi prefers a move to Monaco than the prospect of joining Everton, who are also interested in the Belgian, but Chelsea may be reluctant to let him go until they are sure of clinching the signature of Romelu Lukaku from Everton. Chelsea are in talks with Everton over Lukaku, who is desperate to return to Stamford Bridge in time to go on pre-season tour with Conte’s squad.
Bakayoko’s scheduled arrival will raise question marks over the future of Nemanja Matic, who has been linked with Juventus and Manchester United.
Cesc Fabregas, though, is ready to stay at Chelsea and fight for his place again next season. That stance will only change if the club decide they want to cash in on him. Bakayoko looks set to be the first arrival of Chelsea’s planned £200m summer spree, which is also likely to see Diego Costa depart.
Chelsea are confident Lukaku, who Everton value at £100m, will follow Bakayoko, while the club are also in the market for a back-up goalkeeper and a wide player, with Riyad Mahrez among the players they have shown an interest in. Juventus left-back Alex Sandro is a target of Conte, while the Italian is likely to assess his options before deciding whether or not to sign a new central defender. Chelsea had been leading the chase for Virgil van Dijk before Liverpool approached the Dutchman and Southampton insisted he will not be sold. Van Dijk remains of interest to Chelsea, but they will not bid the £60m it could take to force Southampton to reconsider their stance. Instead, with Andreas Christensen returning, Conte will reconsider whether or not he needs to sign a new centre-back which could be influenced by whether or not Nathan Ake can be persuaded to stay.
Chelsea want Ake to be part of the first-team squad next season, but the 22-year-old has already stated his desire to play more regularly. Bournemouth, where he spent the first half of last season on loan, Southampton and Stoke City have all shown an interest in Ake.
Costa has been told via text message that he is not part of Chelsea’s plans by Conte and the club are now looking for the smoothest exit possible for him.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/06/10/chelsea-close-ontiemoue-bakayoko-monaco-transfer/
