Chelsea have agreed a €55 million (£47.1m) deal to sign Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara.
Earlier on Tuesday, Chelsea had a €45m (£38.5m) bid for Camara rejected by Monaco and their follow-up offer of €50m (£42.8m) was also turned down.
However, Monaco need to free up a non-EU slot in their squad and had been in talks to sell Folarin Balogun to Everton before the deal fell through on Tuesday evening.
That has allowed Chelsea to come through with a third offer for Camara on deadline day and Monaco have now accepted their €55m (£47.1m) bid.
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Camara has signed a six-year contract with Chelsea, which includes an optional additional year.
Chelsea are confident that the deal can be agreed before the 11pm transfer window deadline on Tuesday evening.
Liverpool and Manchester United have also expressed an interest in signing Camara this summer before Chelsea made their first initial approach last month.
Speaking after his side’s 3-2 win against Liverpool at Anfield in a pre-season friendly, Monaco head coach Filipe Luis made it clear that he wanted Camara to stay at the club.
‘We want to build a truly competitive team. I’m very selfish and I want to keep all the players. I don’t want anyone to leave,’ Luis said.
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‘But I know that clubs have to make sales, which we have done. I hope we can keep him. He’s probably one of the best midfielders in the world.
‘I don’t want to say too much, because I know that many clubs are interested in him. We all want him to stay. He’s really important to me. He’s very gifted with the ball at his feet, he covers a lot of ground. He’s an exceptional player. I’m really pleased with him.
‘I have every hope that he stays. I think he’s happy in Monaco. If he stays, he’ll be able to work even harder. Because he’s going to play, as I said, a key role in my system of play.’
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