“Wanted to leave”- La Liga club president reveals how Chelsea completed deadline day move for 26-year-old star

Atletico Madrid president reveals how Saul Niguez completed Chelsea move

According to OndaCero (h/t Fabrizio Romano), Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo went on to explain how Saul Niguez completed his move to Chelsea. It seemed to be a rather close shave with the deal being completed nearly at the stoke of the 12 AM deadline.

Chelsea will be happy with the business they have done this season. They needed a goalscorer and they got one of the best in Romelu Lukaku. However, they did leave it a little bit late to get their third signing of the summer. The deal to bring Saul Niguez went right down to the wire on deadline day but it was eventually completed.

The Spaniard joins the club on an initial loan deal but there is the option to make it a permanent one for £30million. Saul has completed all the formalities with the club and even participated in the training sessions during the international break. The only thing left now is for Saul to get his debut which might not be that far off.

Regardless, Saul’s deal was one that could have collapsed due to time constraints. Atleti CEO Cerezo went on to reveal how close to the cut off timing they got before the deal was done and then they got Antoine Griezmann from Barcelona.

“Saúl wanted to leave. We accepted as it was his desire [to join Chelsea]. I wasn’t in panic in the final minutes – Saúl deal was completed around 11.57pm and we signed Griezmann as we wanted”.

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It was indeed very close and a few minutes here or there could have seen Chelsea walk home empty. Such is the drama and tension on deadline day. Now that all of those things are done, Saul will be hoping to get back on the pitch and show what he is capable of.