30-year-old Argentine Ezequiel Lavezzi is close to agreeing a deal to join Chelsea in the summer on a free transfer.
His contract at current club PSG will expire in June and The Blues are set to swoop in for his signature.
Of course it’s unlikely that current manager Guus Hiddink will get to manage him, it’ll be someone else.
That someone, however, remains a mystery to everyone.
Lavezzi isn’t a new face to the Chelsea hierarchy either. We’ve been linked with him before, only to see the rumour fall through.
This time though, it looks as though there is some substance.
His agents met Chelsea officials in London this week to discuss a deal.
The fact that there is no transfer fee involved means Lavezzi and his entourage will be in a strong position to negotiate a big salary and signing-on fee.
PSG have so far been the runaway leaders in Ligue 1 this season yet Lavezzi has struggled to make an impact.
Relegated to the bench for most of the season (13 appearances from the bench), he has only started 3 Ligue 1 games.
This would be the only hesitation for me in signing Lavezzi. He gives off all the signals of a player past his best.
He’s already turned 30 too which raises a number of questions. Mainly that Chelsea have a policy of only offering players over 30 a one-year deal.
Will Lavezzi only be offered one year?
I find it hard to believe.
He’s at an age where he’ll want to secure a longer term deal on as high a salary as possible. This could be his last big payday.
So even if Chelsea stuck to their policy and offered him one year, I doubt he’d take it.
If he’s offered a big multi-year deal, then what message does it send to the players currently in the dressing room?
Ivanovic only offered one year, Terry, Lampard, and so on.
It’ll certainly be an interesting situation should it develop to be more than transfer gossip.
But with Lavezzi’s agents seen to be meeting Chelsea, this one has something to it already.
We’ll follow it closely.
