Chelsea ‘reach agreement’ to sign Brighton star and ‘discuss separate deal’ for £100m Liverpool target | OneFootball

Serge Aurier challenges Robert Sanchez.

According to reports, Chelsea have ‘reached an agreement’ with Brighton and Hove Albion to sign Spain international Robert Sanchez.

One of Mauricio Pochettino’s priorities this summer has been to sign a new goalkeeper who will become the club’s new number-one.

Brighton shot-stopper Sanchez has emerged as their preferred target after he slipped down the pecking order under Roberto De Zerbi, who preferred to select 32-year-old Jason Steele.

Sanchez has unsurprisingly expressed his desire to join Chelsea and earlier this week it was reported that he has already ‘accepted’ a move to Stamford Bridge.

The Athletic’s David Ornstein has now revealed that an ‘agreement’ has been reached between the two clubs and Sanchez is ‘expected to undergo a medical imminently’.

This has been backed up by Fabrizio Romano, who states that it will be a ‘done deal’ once the two clubs ‘fix the final details’.

Romano also revealed that Chelsea will pay an initial £20m for Sanchez and £5m could be paid later in add-ons.

Gabriel Slonina ‘will now leave on loan’ and Chelsea are ‘discussing a separate deal’ with Brighton for Moises Caicedo.

Caicedo has emerged as Chelsea’s top midfield target this summer following the exits of N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount and Ruben Loftus-Cheek this summer.

The Ecuador international was targeted by Arsenal in January but they turned their attention to Declan Rice this summer and they have signed him from West Ham for a fee that could rise to £105m with add-ons.

Chelsea have been leading the race to sign Caicedo. Their latest offer for him was worth £80m but Brighton are holding out for £100m.

Jurgen Klopp’s side have reportedly submitted their own £80m bid for him.

Brighton boss De Zerbi has recently stated that Caicedo will “stay” as long as “the conditions don’t change”.

“At the moment Moises is a Brighton player,” De Zerbi said.

He added: “I spoke with [club owner] Tony Bloom and he told me if the conditions don’t change, Moises stays with us.

“For me, it should be great news because it is difficult to find another player like Moises. If Moises leaves we have to find another player of the same level because we deserve to play the next season with the same [quality].

“We deserve to play in the Europa League and we want to compete at our best.”