Chelsea's Ruben Loftus-Cheek close to becoming Frank de Boer's first signing as Crystal Palace manager
John Percy
10 JULY 2017 • 8:30AM
Frank de Boer is set to make Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek his first signing as Crystal Palace manager.De Boer is close to taking Loftus-Cheek on a season's loan after winning the race to sign the England under-21 international ahead of competition from Newcastle, Southampton and Brighton.
Chelsea sources have revealed that Loftus-Cheek is expected to complete the formalities of his move to Palace in the next 24 hours, after he was made available for loan by Antonio Conte.The 21-year-old made only six appearances for the Premier League champions last season and De Boer has moved quickly to bring him to Selhurst Park.
Palace are the only top-flight club not to make a signing so far this summer but the capture of Loftus-Cheek will kick-start De Boer's recruitment drive ahead of the new season.
Loftus-Cheek becomes the latest Chelsea youngster to secure a loan move away from Stamford Bridge, after Tammy Abraham and Kasey Palmer joined Swansea and Huddersfield respectively.
Nathaniel Chalobah is in talks over a permanent move to Watford while attacking midfielder Izzy Brown could sign for Brighton on loan this week.Chelsea are expecting a busy week of transfer activity in the next few days after completing a £35m deal for Roma defender Antonio Rudiger.
Conte's squad fly out to the Far East for their pre-season tour next week and are working on a number of deals, including Monaco midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko.
Diego Costa's future remains uncertain and it is thought unlikely that he will be joining his team-mates for the flight into Beijing next Tuesday.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/07/10/chelseas-ruben-loftus-cheek-close-becoming-frank-de-boers-first/ [ 此帖被羅力亞在2017-07-13 04:35重新編輯 ]
