Chelsea agree season-long loan deal with Ajax for Bertrand Traore

Chelsea have agreed to send Bertrand Traore on a season-long loan to Ajax as they look to fill the void left by Arkadiusz Milik, who joined Napoli earlier in the summer. Antonio Conte is keen that the striker gets regular first-team football with reports suggesting that he is also making way for Romelu Lukaku, who is high on the Italian manager's priority list this summer.

According to Dutch publication De Telegraaf, the Burkina Faso international is set to travel to Netherlands in the coming days to complete the move and is likely to be available for Ajax's Champions League play-off against Russian side FC Rostov on 16 August. The striker is reportedly looking forward to moving back to the Eredivisie, where he spent a year and a half on loan with Vitesse Arnhem following his move to Chelsea in 2014.

Ajax coach Peter Bosz is looking to bolster his attack after losing the Poland international to Napoli, and has identified Traore as the perfect candidate to lead the line this season. He is well aware of the Chelsea forward's qualities after managing him at Vitesse from 2013 to 2015.

The 20-year-old forward made his debut for Chelsea in December last year and made 10 Premier League appearances in the second-half of the season. Traore is currently the fourth-choice striker at Stamford Bridge behind Diego Costa, Michy Batshuayi and Loic Remy and is unlikely to be afforded regular first-team football in the upcoming campaign.

However, according to the London Evening Standard, Conte is allowing the young Burkina Faso striker to leave the club this summer to make way for another forward with Lukaku being the most frequently mentioned name in recent weeks. The former Juventus manager is said to be keen to bring the forward to the club as he looks to get Chelsea back into title contention after a poor campaign last season.

Everton are reluctant to let the Belgium international leave the club and have slapped a £65m ($84.2m) price-tag on the forward. The Blues are keen to land their former player and according to the Sun, are willing to include Asmir Begovic and Loic Remy as part of the deal.