Chelsea complete seventh summer signing but Blues miss out on £30m deal for one reason | OneFootball

Chelsea have confirmed that they have signed Maxence Lacroix from Crystal Palace, while Fabrizio Romano has an update on their other business.

The Blues have been tracking Lacroix for several weeks, and they confirmed his arrival from Crystal Palace on Thursday morning.

After impressing for Crystal Palace, Chelsea have paid around £52m to sign the France international from their Premier League rivals.

Lacroix is Chelsea’s seventh summer signing after Morgan Rogers, Marco Palestra, Geovany Quenda, Emmanuel Emegha, Denner and Dastan Satpaev, but more arrivals are due in the coming days.

The Blues have altered their transfer policy following the appointment of Xabi Alonso, and Romano has revealed that Jordan Henderson and Danny Welbeck are set to add much-needed experience to their squad, though they will no longer sign Sunderland’s Granit Xhaka.

“Brentford have officially confirmed that Jordan Henderson is terminating his contract at the club and is allowed to leave on a free transfer,” Romano said on his YouTube channel.

“Chelsea already have an agreement in place with Jordan Henderson on a two-year contract. Everything is done. We are just waiting for the medical and the contract signing.

“Since the beginning of the window Chelsea wanted to add an experienced midfielder and a leader in midfield. Even if he is not young anymore in football terms, they wanted someone with experience and leadership in that position.

“Chelsea were also considering Granit Xhaka, but Sunderland didn’t want to let him leave.

“Chelsea have completed the deal for Jordan Henderson on a two-year contract. This follows Danny Welbeck. The deal is also done for Welbeck and, once again, it is a two-year contract.

“We already said in April and May that Chelsea were going to change their strategy following the arrival of Xabi Alonso. They wanted to bring in more experienced players.

“Now they have 35-year-old Danny Welbeck and 36-year-old Jordan Henderson. Both deals are done.”

Chelsea miss out on £30m signing

But Juventus-bound Kerim Alajbegovic is another player who will not be joining Chelsea this summer.

The forward has an agreement to join Juventus for around £30m (35 million euros) including add-ons, and Romano has revealed why he is not going to Chelsea.

“Kerim Alajbegovic, several clubs have been in conversations and several clubs have been in talks,” Romano added.

“For example, I can say that Chelsea have been in the conversation for some time, but for Chelsea the idea was for him to be a project player for the future. They wanted to sign Alajbegovic, possibly find a loan solution, let the player develop and then return to Chelsea.

“So Chelsea identified his talent, but after signing Morgan Rogers they didn’t include Alajbegovic in any plans to become a starter with immediate effect.

“Juventus are offering something completely different. They are offering him the chance to become an important player, compete for a starting place and also the opportunity to become a star in Italy, which is a country that really attracts the player.

“Since the beginning of the transfer window, Kerim Alajbegovic made it clear to his father and the people close to him that he wanted to move to Italy because he believes it is the ideal destination.”

“Chelsea tried, but it was a different type of project.

“Now Juventus have an agreement in place with Bayer Leverkusen worth around €30m plus add-ons, rising to a maximum of €35m.

“There are still a few details to clarify with the player, but I think between tonight and tomorrow everything will be completed. Juventus are convinced they will complete the deal for Kerem Alajbegovic.”