Chelsea ‘agree personal terms’ amid fresh £80m bid for Brighton midfielder

Chelsea will turn their attention to Brighton and Hove midfielder Moises Caicedo and hope that a bid in the region of £80million will be enough to secure his services.

The Ecuador midfielder has been brilliant for the Seagulls but there is a verbal agreement between him and the club that he would be allowed to leave if a bid in excess of £80million were to be made for him this summer.

Last January, Brighton held on to him despite Arsenal's willingness to go up to £75million including add-ons for his signature, but Chelsea now in a position of strength after a squad overhaul are preparing to make their first move for him in the coming days.

Brighton renewed Caicedo’s contract and offered him more money in anticipation that teams would be queue for him this summer, West Ham look to have shown the way having squeezed £105million from Arsenal for midfielder Declan Rice.

The figure for Caicedo will be close to that according to LondonWorld’s sources close to Brighton- and Chelsea who are willing to make him their most expensive summer signing will have to brace themselves for a huge figure.

Sources have also revealed to Londonworld that as of today Friday 30th June, no official bid has been received from Chelsea or any team, with the Seagulls preparing for their trip to the United States where they will hold most of their pre-season games.

In some more transfer news, Chelsea have agreed on personal terms with young defender Levi Colwill and offered him a long-term contract but the defender wants assurance that he will be given playing time before signing the deal according to a report in the Evening Standard.

Chelsea are building a new team full of youngsters and new manager Mauricio Pochettino is reported to be determined to keep Colwill in the team after he impressed heavily at Brighton last season. The Seagulls made a club-record bid of £40million for him but Chelsea turned it down.

The 20-year-old is currently with the England under-21 team in Georgia and thus will not return to pre-season training till halfway through the process due to international commitment.