Chelsea closing in on £75m Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Danny Drinkwater deals

CHELSEA were last night closing in on a £75 million double early transfer deadline day swoop.
The Stamford Bridge club agreed a £35m fee with Arsenal for England midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – and yesterday were moving towards a £40m deal for Leicester midfielder Danny Drinkwater.
Oxlade-Chamberlain, currently with Gareth Southgate’s England squad as they prepare for Friday night’s World Cup qualifying clash in Malta, will now discuss personal terms with Chelsea, and is expected to have his medical at the national team’s headquarters at St George’s Park in the next 24 hours before signing a five year deal.

Oxlade-Chamberlain, 24, rejected Arsenal’s £180,000 a week new contract offer, but Gunners manager Arsene Wenger insisted that the former Southampton star would not be sold earlier this summer.




But the midfielder told Wenger he wanted to go before Sunday’s disastrous 4-0 thrashing at Liverpool, in which he surprisingly played 62 minutes.

Oxlade-Chamberlain is to be granted special leave by England to enable him to tie up his move across London, with Southgate keen to see all transfer business involving his players tied up before the matches against Malta and Slovakia.
If talks drag on, he could be exempted from flying out with the squad on Thursday, which is deadline day.

Liverpool had also held an interest in Oxlade-Chamberlain, but that cooled with the Anfield club yesterday putting in a bid for Monaco forward Thomas Lemar, and also agreeing a £48m deal that sees Naby Keita join them next summer.

Oxlade-Chamberlain’s departure to his London rivals will come as a significant blow to under pressure Gunners manager Arsene Wenger.

Chelsea meanwhile are moving closer to a £40m deal for Drinkwater and are also pursuing deals for Everton forward Ross Barkley, and Swansea striker Fernando Llorente.

Source:www.express.co.uk