Chelsea have reached a verbal agreement with the representatives of Alexandre Pato and the player is expected to complete his move to Stamford Bridge soon.
The 26-year-old Brazilian striker has been linked with a move away from Corinthians since December and it appears that the saga might finally end now. ESPN Brazil have confirmed that the Premier League champions have a verbal agreement for the player.
Earlier it was reported that the Chelsea playing staff were confident about a deal being done soon and that the player’s agent has travelled to London. It seems there have been significant developments since then and the deal is close to being concluded now.
The ESPN report claims that negotiations for Pato were handled by the shrewd Marina Granovskaia who is also referred to as Chelsea’s ‘Iron Lady’. The Russian is a tough negotiator and is considered as the right hand of Roman Abramovich.
She is the closest adviser to the Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and joined the board of directors at Chelsea in 2013. She is mainly responsible for player transactions.
The fee for the Brazilian is expected to be in the region of ₤8million and the Londoners have offered him a 3-year contract.
Chelsea have struggled to score goals this season and Pato is expected to provide them with much-needed sharpness in front of goal and quality in depth.
At this point last season, Chelsea had scored 51 goals and were at the top of the table. However, this year the Blues have managed only 31 goals so far and with Diego Costa injured, bringing in a striker has been a top priority for the Premier League giants.
Pato scored 26 goals with Sao Paulo (on loan from Corinthians) last season and will be hoping for similar success in England. The Brazilian has had better offers (financially) from China but the player is only interested in returning to Europe and Chelsea have offered him the quickest route back.
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