Chelsea Transfer News: Blues Beat Barcelona To Signing Of Argentinean Defender

Although the summer transfer window is officially closed that doesn’t stop clubs working hard behind the scenes to prepare for future signings, so we’ll keep you up-to-date with all the latest gossip. Here, Chelsea are linked with a Porto defender.

Chelsea have beaten Barcelona to the signature of Argentinean centre-back Nicolas Otamendi after agreeing a deal with Porto, according to the Express.

Otamendi moved to Porto in a £3.5million deal from Vélez Sársfield in 2010 and has established himself as a first team regular at the Estádio do Dragão ever since. The Express claims that both Chelsea and Barcelona held talks with the Portuguese champions over the summer about signing Otamendi but were unable to agree terms.

It seems the duo have refused to give up and the newspaper suggests that Porto are now resigned to losing the 25-year-old defender, and expect him to move to Stamford Bridge next summer after a deal was agreed with the Blues.

The report doesn’t provide any details on the fee that has supposedly been agreed but it claims that Chelsea were able to strike the deal following a personal plea from former Porto boss and current Chelsea supremo, Jose Mourinho.

Otamendi is a powerful centre-back who’s been capped 15 times by Argentina and he’d provide Mourinho with another option at the back if he does end up moving to west London next summer. Captain John Terry is in the final year of his contract and at 33-years-old, a long-term replacement is going to be needed some time soon and Otamendi could be just the man for the job.

However, it’s worth remembering that this is still just paper talk and until something official comes out from Chelsea or Porto, you should take it with a pinch of salt.

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