CHELSEA have agreed a two-year deal with Danny Welbeck and hope to have him join their pre-season tour next week.
Terms are in place with Brighton over a deal for the 35-year-old striker, as part of a drive for experience at Stamford Bridge.
Danny Welbeck is set to join Chelsea from Brighton Credit: Getty
Jordan Henderson, the England and Brentford midfielder, is also close to joining the Blues.
Chelsea are currently in Sydney for the first leg of their pre-season tour, which began with a 6-4 win over Western Sydney Wanderers on Tuesday.
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This weekend, after facing Tottenham in New South Wales, Alonso and his squad travel to face Juventus in Hong Kong.
A number of first team players, back from their break after the World Cup, are due to join up with the squad there.
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Should everything be sealed swiftly, as is expected, the plan is for Welbeck to make the trip to Asia too.
The former England striker, who played against his soon-to-be new boss three times earlier in his career, scored 13 goals in 37 Premier League appearances last season.
Welbeck is now due for a medical with the Blues who are set to become the fifth permanent club of his career.
A season of inconsistent form and poor discipline convinced Chelsea and their new manager that a change in strategy and more seniority was needed to compete on a regular basis.
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After a failed £8million move for Granit Xhaka, the heartbeat of Alonso’s title-winning Bayer Leverkusen side, the Blues are moving quickly to land Welbeck and Henderson.
After nearly a week in Hong Kong, Chelsea travel to face AC Milan in Jakarta and Johor Darul Ta’zim in Malaysia before returning to London.
Their pre-season will be completed by a meeting with Alonso’s boyhood club, Real Sociedad, at Stamford Bridge on August 15.
Welbeck joined Brighton in 2020 on a free transfer after leaving Watford.
He has gone on to make 201 appearances for the club in all competitions and scored a total of 51 goals.
The striker became the club’s record goalscorer in the Premier League when he surpassed Glenn Murray and Neal Maupay’s tally of 26.
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