Chelsea have agreed a deal to sign Radja Nainggolan from Roma, according to reports.
Chelsea will pay £28 million for the midfielder and there has been a verbal agreement to sign a 5 year contract with the Blues, according to Goal. The Belgium International will be Antonio Conte’s first signing for Chelsea since his appointment. The Blues’ deal for for Nainggolan was settled over the past 2 days along with his representatives and Roma.
Walter Sabatini, Roma’s sporting director, was spotted in London earlier this month and it was speculated that the meeting was set up at Stamford Bridge to discuss possible transfers of Nainggolan, Pjanic, Kostas Manolas, Mohammed Salah and Walter Sabatini himself.
Il Giallorossi’s director Sabatini has said on Tuesday that their prized midfielder was wanted by many clubs and was a strong in every area of the game.
The fallen Premier League champions will not make the official announcement until after the season but Roma’s representatives told Goal: “I know there is a Chelsea interest in Nainggloan but he is our player and we are happy with him, we cannot speak about the transfer market at this time.”
Chelsea’s rebuilding project
In an attempt to rebuild the squad, Chelsea have also been linked with further signings from Roma and with Conte’s former club Juventus. The London team have been linked to Morata, Bonucci and a move to bring back Juan Cuadrado from loan.
With this signing, the Blues will look to make a statement of intent to the Premier League and Europe that the season is just a one off and something they don’t plan on getting used to. Chelsea are set to go out all guns blazing in this transfer window with rumours of mega bids increasing by the day. Abramovich will expect Conte to get them back to into the top 3 immediately next season and anything else would prove to be a failure on the part of the manager and players.
