Gonzalo Higuain’s move to Chelsea is expected to be confirmed imminently, on Friday or Saturday at the latest, and only the player’s signature is missing for the deal to become official.
Even Nicolas Higuain, the player’s brother and agent, set off from Buenos Aires on Thursday for Madrid, where he arrived on Friday and where he will travel to London from to accompany the AC Milan striker as he finalises the move.
MARCA report that El Pipita will join Chelsea on loan, with the Blues paying nine of the 18 million euros Milan had agreed with Juventus for his initial loan deal.
The Stamford Bridge side will also maintain the purchase option in the agreement, which sits at 36 million euros and is almost an obligation more than an option.
With two years to run on his contract in Turin, the Italian champions are keen to offload him permanently and, as such, have included three clauses that will require Chelsea to buy him outright.
The first is that Chelsea finish third in the Premier League and Higuain scores at least one goal; the second is that the Argentine scores 15 league goals; while the third is that the Londoners win the Europa League and their new frontman nets five times.
Chelsea will also respect Higuain’s salary, which, it’s worth noting, sees him earn over eight million euros per year.
Confirmation of the deal is imminent, with some speculating that he will start training on Monday, while others say the deal may even be done in time for him to play this weekend, though that seems incredibly unlikely.
Maurizio Sarri will finally be reunited with his No.9 and when they last worked together, in 2015/16, Pipita broke Gino Rossetti’s long-standing record by scoring 36 Serie A goals in just 35 games.
Higuain’s arrival in London is likely to start something of a domino effect around Europe.
Alvaro Morata will be free to move to Atletico Madrid, though they first need to offload Nikola Kalinic and Gelson Martins.
Milan, meanwhile, will almost certainly clinch the signing of breakthrough star Krzysztof Piatek from Genoa, who sits behind only Cristiano Ronaldo in Serie A’s scoring charts this term.
