Chelsea agree €35million deal to bring Italian defensive wall to Stamford Bridge – report

Daniele Rugani

Chelsea are close to completing their first signing of the summer window as a €35million deal has been agreed with Italian giants Juventus for Daniele Rugani.

SportItalia (h/t Metro) claims that the Blues have reached an agreement with the Old Lady and will pay €32m plus €3m in bonuses for the young central defender.

The report also claims that the transfer is close to being finalised between the two clubs and that the Serie A giants will allow Rugani to join Chelsea.

The 23-year-old Italian played 22 Serie A games for the Italian champions last season and scored a goal while providing a couple of assists too. The Italian defender had worked with Maurizio Sarri when the Italian manager was at Empoli and that could be another reason why the player might have decided to move to Stamford Bridge.

Rugani is an Italy international and working under Sarri would only make him better. It would also be interesting to see if he directly gets slotted into the starting XI as the player would be looking for a bigger role and more minutes on the pitch should he leave Juventus.

The report, however, also adds that the deal will be on hold until the Blues officially announce Sarri as the new manager.

Signing Rugani would be a stellar bit of business as the youngster could turn out to be a great defender in the coming years. He would also freshen up an old and ageing back-line and hopefully, help us keep a number of clean sheets as we look to return to the top-four.