Atletico Hand Filipe Luis Ultimatum to Join Chelsea

Atletico Madrid have reportedly handed an ultimatum to Chelsea target Filipe Luis, urging the left-back to complete his €25m (£20m) move to Stamford Bridge by the end of this week – in order to secure his replacement as soon as possible.

Jose Mourinho is desperately looking for a left-back to replace out-of-contract Ashley Cole and has earmarked the Atletico star as his first-choice to fill the gap.

According to Spanish newspaper AS the La Liga champions are likely to let him go should Chelsea agree to meet his €25m release clause by the end of the week.

Technically, the money has to be provided by Filipe Luis rather than Chelsea to meet the buy-back clause the player himself has to buy his contract to leave.

Atletico have told Luis that should he not meet his valuation this week they will block the deal by asking the Spanish Revenue authorities to study the case – and they could force Chelsea to pay an extra charge in terms of VAT pushing the deal to more than €30m.

Atletico don't want to delay the negotiations further as they have advance negotiations to sign Granada star Guilheme Siqueira as his replacement for around €10m – and they would like to complete the deal as soon as possible.

Filipe Luis played a crucial role in Atletico Madrid's La Liga title success as well as their remarkable run to the Champions League final – catching the eyes of a number of big European clubs including Manchester United and Chelsea.

Recently, Luis' agent Manuel Garcia Quilon admitted Chelsea were interesting in securing his services.

"Chelsea? The interest is there. But Atletico don't want to sell. They want to keep every player they can for next season. Then, we'll see what's happening with different players, but Atletico don't have any intention to sell anyone."