Chelsea look to Raphaël Varane as David Luiz is set for PSG
David Luiz, a £23.5m signing from Benfica in January 2011, has played 143 games for Chelsea and claimed the Champions League and Europa League while at the club but found himself something of a stop-gap at both centre-half and in defensive midfield last season. At 27, and with Barcelona and Bayern Munich also established as long-standing admirers, he represents a saleable asset as Chelsea seek to rejig their squad within Uefa’s financial fair play regulations. He has agreed a four-year deal with the French club, with an option for a further season.
The fee for the Brazilian could rise to as much as £50m with appearances and honours – an amount PSG, who are more bullish about maintaining their lavish spending of recent years, are prepared to pay – and that would grant José Mourinho leeway in the transfer market this summer to strengthen his own squad. The Spain forward Diego Costa is expected to join from Atlético Madrid for £31.8m, triggering the buyout clause in his contract at Vicente Calderón, while there is interest in securing a second striker, with Bayern’s Mario Mandzukic admired.
Chelsea are also seeking a left-back to replace the departing Ashley Cole, with Sevilla’s Alberto Moreno and Filipe Luís at Atlético tracked. Mourinho has cover at centre-half, where John Terry has signed on for a further season, Gary Cahill has excelled and Branislav Ivanovic can perform. The youngsters Tomas Kalas – who played in the wins at Liverpool and Cardiff towards the end of the season – and Kurt Zouma, signed mid-season from St-Etienne but retained by the French club for the rest of the campaign, will also seek first-team involvement, though Chelsea will still look into recruiting Varane.
The France international, 21, played regularly under Mourinho towards the end of his time at Real but, hampered by an injury to his right knee, has found his opportunities more limited at the Bernabéu this term. Yet he remains a player of immense promise and Chelsea will find out their chances of securing his services in the days ahead.
Mourinho expects Nemanja Matic to be his first-choice holding midfielder next season, which would have limited David Luiz’s chances of playing that role. In the end the fee offered by PSG has proved too enticing as the French club, conscious of Bayern and Barça’s interest in the player, met Chelsea’s valuation.
Officials from the Parisian club have travelled to South America and David Luiz is to undertake a medical at Brazil’s pre-World Cup training camp and the move is likely to be concluded over the weekend. But he will not be joined in Paris by his current his club-mates Eden Hazard, a long-term target for PSG’s owners, Qatari Sports Investments, or Oscar as Chelsea are intent on retaining both attacking midfielders. Another midfielder, Frank Lampard, is still expected to sign a new one-year contract at the club before England’s departure for the World Cup finals.
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