Chelsea have confirmed the arrival of the France defender Axel Disasi from Monaco in a €45m (£38.7m) deal. The 25-year-old has signed a six-year contract after the club moved quickly to cover the injury to Wesley Fofana.
Disasi has played 130 times in Ligue 1 and was part of the France squad who were runners-up in last year’s World Cup. The centre-back told Chelsea’s website: “I hope to achieve very big things here. To win titles. I will do everything I can to achieve those objectives. I am very ambitious.
“It’s a club that has been very popular for French players because they have all done well here: [Frank] Leboeuf, [Marcel] Desailly, [Nicolas] Anelka, [N’Golo] Kanté, [Olivier] Giroud. And the colour is blue like the national team! It’s good.”
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The goalkeeper Robert Sánchez should be the next signing confirmed by Chelsea after they agreed a fee worth up to £25m with Brighton. They remain in talks with Brighton over a deal for the Ecuador midfielder Moisés Caicedo and are keen to bring in another striker. Mauricio Pochettino must decide whether he is interested in a swap offered by Juventus, who want to take Romelu Lukaku and money from Chelsea in exchange for Dusan Vlahovic.