Tuesday, 2nd July, 2013

Real Madrid could be dealt a major blow in the transfer window by none other than former manager Jose Mourinho, as Chelsea have reached an agreement on personal terms with Edinson Cavani over a move to Stamford Bridge, according to Spanish daily AS.

Cavani’s transfer saga had reached English shores long before last season had even ended, with Real Madrid giving stern competition.



The striker himself had hailed Los Blancos as a "dream club" but it appears Chelsea may have leapt to the front of the queue, despite the €63m release clause.

Manchester City had been gunning for the same player but were understood to have tabled an unfavourable offer, as revealed by Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis.

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However, Chelsea are expected to begin talking with Napoli later this week for Cavani, who lit up this year’s Confederations Cup for Uruguay with three goals in four games.

He had expressed his annoyance at the transfer speculation around him before Uruguay’s third-place playoff on Sunday, which they lost, but his future could well be sorted soon.

The 26-year-old had been urging De Laurentiis to set up a face-to-face meeting with him to discuss a future club, but the Napoli chief put paid to those suggestions.

His release clause has been a bone of contention, of course, with Manchester City’s rejected offer reportedly in the region of €50m despite the envisioned add-on of a friendly between the clubs besides flexible payment terms.

Chelsea, meanwhile, have already bolstered their attacking prowess with the acquisition of Andre Schurrle from Bayer Leverkusen, and Mourinho appears ready to pull off another coup in Cavani.

Amid all this, Paris Saint-Germain could be readying a hijack bid, with Cavani’s agent Pierpaolo Triulzi understood to have travelled to Paris yesterday for a meeting with sporting director Leonardo.

PSG have been fairly quiet in the transfer market so far, owing to their managerial uncertainty, but with Laurent Blanc readying the transfer coffers, the Ligue 1 champions cannot be ruled out in going for a last-ditch bid.

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