Chelsea Close To Signing Michy Batshuayi

Chelsea are close to completing the signing of Belgium striker Michy Batshuayi from Marseille in a deal worth £33 million, according to multiple reports.

Batshuayi has been one of the most coveted players of the transfer window, with Marseille said to have rejected bids from West Ham and Juventus earlier this summer before Crystal Palace reportedly had an offer of £31.6m accepted on Monday.

L’Equipe, which first reported the story on Tuesday evening, reports that Chelsea have agreed to pay £33m to secure Batshuayi, making him the most lucrative sale in Marseille’s history ahead of Didier Drogba, who made the same switch in the summer of 2004.

Batshuayi will reportedly undergo a medical at Belgium’s Euro 2016 base in Bordeaux, where Marc Wilmots’ men are preparing for Friday’s quarterfinal clash with Wales in Lille, before signing a five-year contract.

The deal would make the 22-year-old the first signing at Stamford Bridge since Antonio Conte’s appointment as first-team head coach in April, as the Italian looks to significantly bolster a squad responsible for the worst season of the Roman Abramovich era.

Batshuayi scored 17 goals in Ligue 1 last season and came off the substitutes’ bench to net Belgium’s second goal in a 4-0 rout of Hungary on Sunday. Despite Chelsea’s inability to offer European football this season, The Guardian reports that he had reservations about accepting the offer of a move to Palace.

The Guardian also claims that Chelsea could still pursue a deal for Spain international striker Alvaro Morata, who recently returned to Real Madrid from Juventus, but said interest in re-signing Romelu Lukaku from Everton looks to have ended.

Sources said in April that Chelsea retained an interest in Lukaku but that the Blues could be forced to pay more than double the £28m they received from Everton for his sale in the summer of 2014.