Chelsea have already reached a crucial agreement on the next signing of Mauricio Pochettino, who wants a move

Chelsea are halfway to finalizing a deal for Mauricio Pochettino’s next signing this summer.

Mauricio Pochettino is yet to make his first major signing since taking charge of Chelsea, but there is a growing sense that the wait for a major signing is drawing to a close.

The Blues have been chasing players out the door for the first month of the transfer window as Todd Boehly raises money to ease their worries about financial fair play, and now Pochettino is looking forward to hitting some of his favorite goals.

The West London team was ruthless in taking down some key members of their team. Similarly, on the other side of the market, they have taken an important step to overcome a major obstacle in their hunt for Moises Caicedo.

The 22-year-old has “already set his sights” on a move to Stamford Bridge and it has been reported that Chelsea will launch their first official £70m offer for the Ecuadorian midfielder, reports The Evening Standard. Brighton’s £100m asking price could be based on Declan Rice’s £105m transfer to Arsenal, but the Blues will be confident they can get a cheaper deal.

The same report claims Pochettino’s transfer bosses have negotiated a personal deal with Caicedo which would see him sign a long-term deal with a huge pay rise over his current salary of £90,000 a week.

He will likely follow the lead of Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Jackson by signing an eight-year deal, although UEFA looks to end the FFP lead it gained by handing out longer contracts.

However, for Caicedo it would be a good representation of how long Chelsea would see him stay at the club as he is seen as the natural heir to N’Golo Kante.

And having agreed personal terms at this point before their offer stands gives Chelsea considerable bargaining power. The South Coast is known for its unrestricted approach to transfer talks and has demanded high fees from Ben White and Marc Cucurella

But the club’s apparent guarantee to Caicedo that they would sell him, coupled with Roberto De Zerbi’s public admission that he might be sold, weakened their position. Chelsea could still pay around £80million for Caicedo, but that amount will largely be funded by the various departures this summer.

Kai Havertz, Mason Mount and Mateo Kovacic all left for hefty transfer fees, while support players such as Christian Pulisic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek joined AC Milan for a total of £36million , with add-ons taking the club to nearly £40million.

Add in the proceeds from the sale of Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy to Saudi clubs, as well as the huge salary budget savings from the sacking of Kante and Cesar Azpilicueta Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, this could prove to be a winning window for Boehly.

In total, he gives Chelsea around £230m to play with – and just around £45m was spent on Villarreal and Santos’ Nicolas Jackson and Angelo Gabriel, as Christopher Nkunku’s £60m was included in expenses. transfer last season.

Those deals have been important in putting the “new Chelsea” together, but bringing in Caicedo would bring the team closer to what Pochettino wants as the Argentine prepares to lead the Londoners into an exciting new era.