Chelsea make major progress in pursuit of Rayo Vallecano defender Pep Chavarria

The Premier League club are finalising a deal worth about 16.3 million pounds, with additional performance-related bonuses, after making significant progress in talks that have stretched for almost a month.

The Blues have already settled personal terms with the 28-year-old left-back, and confidence is growing among all parties that the transfer will soon be concluded. Chavarria also played an important role in advancing negotiations after informing Rayo Vallecano that he wanted to make the switch to Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea's opening offer of 15 million pounds, lodged at the end of June, was turned down, with the London club believing the Spanish side increased their valuation during discussions.

At one point, Rayo were reportedly insisting on the defender's full 42.8-million-pound release clause before softening their stance. The Spanish outfit were beaten by Crystal Palace in the Conference League final in May.

New Chelsea head coach Xabi Alonso has identified Chavarria as one of his priority signings after coming up against the full-back while in charge of Real Madrid last season.

The addition of Chavarria, alongside Marco Palestra, who arrived from Atalanta in July for 47 million pounds, would help Alonso deploy the wing-back system that previously guided Bayer Leverkusen to the 2024 Bundesliga title.

Chavarria would increase competition and experience at left-back following Marc Cucurella's 51.8 million pounds move to Real Madrid in June.

Chelsea have also recruited Danny Welbeck, Jordan Henderson, Morgan Rogers and Maxence Lacroix this summer, while Valentin Barco is expected to arrive from RC Strasbourg.

Attention is then expected to shift towards outgoing transfers, with Trevoh Chalobah set to join Como 1907 in a deal worth around 31 million pounds.