Axel Disasi has entered the final two years of his Monaco contract; Disasi had been linked with Manchester United and Newcastle in this transfer window; Chelsea lost centre-back Wesley Fofana during pre-season to an ACL injury
Sunday 30 July 2023 22:09, UK
Chelsea have agreed a deal in principle with Monaco for defender Axel Disasi for a fee in the region of £38.6m.
Disasi has entered the final two years of his contract and had been linked with Manchester United and Newcastle in this transfer window.
Monaco wanted to have a degree of certainty over a replacement before sanctioning a move for Disasi. The club agreed a deal with Southampton for defender Mohammed Salisu over the weekend.
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino had indicated earlier this month the club could go into the market following the ACL injury suffered by centre-back Wesley Fofana.
Fofana has had surgery on his knee and speaking on Chelsea's pre-season tour of the United States, Pochettino said he was hopeful the player would return from injury at some point this season.
Pochettino can currently pick from Levi Colwill, Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah and Benoit Badiashile, who is still recovering from a hamstring injury sustained last season, to fill the centre-back positions.
Disasi will offer Chelsea another option as a right-sided centre-back. He moved to Monaco from Reims, where he spent four years, in 2020 and featured for France at the 2022 World Cup, making three appearances.
He is set to become Chelsea's third major signing of the summer with forwards Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkuku having joined from Villarreal and RB Leipzig respectively.
The deal comes as Pochettino's side won the inaugural Premier League Summer Series after a 2-0 win over Fulham.
Chelsea have agreed a deal to sign midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu from Rennes for €27m (£23.1m).
The Blues are yet to decide whether the 19-year-old will go into Pochettino's first-team squad or go out on loan.
A temporary move to Strasbourg, the Ligue 1 side in which Chelsea own a majority stake, has been mooted.
Ugochukwu came through the academy at Rennes and has gone on to make 60 appearances for the club, including 35 in all competitions last season.
Who will be on the move this summer when the transfer window opens on June 14 and closes at 11pm on September 1 in England and midnight in Scotland?
Keep up to date with all the latest transfer news and rumours in our dedicated Transfer Centre blog on Sky Sports' digital platforms. You can also catch up with the ins, outs and analysis on Sky Sports News.
