Chelsea close to completing £23m move for Spanish defender

Chelsea are close to completing their fourth signing of the summer with the club hopeful of reaching an agreement with Fiorentina for the transfer of Marcos Alonso. The defender is said to be keen to return to the Premier League after previous spells with Bolton Wanderers and Sunderland.

According to the Guardian, negotiations between the two clubs have been underway in recent weeks and the Italian club are expected to accept the Blues' renewed offer of £23m ($30.1m, €27m) for the left-back. The Spanish defender will fill the void left by the departure of Baba Rahman, who has joined Schalke on a season-long loan.

Antonio Conte has been desperate to bring in defensive cover before the close of the transfer window at 11pm BST on Wednesday (31 August) and has seen a number of their approaches knocked back. Chelsea had submitted offers upwards of £30m for Kalidou Koulibaly and Alessio Romagnoli, but both were rejected by Napoli and AC Milan respectively.

The former Italy manager has made strengthening his defence a priority and the imminent arrival of Alonso will allow him to move Cezar Azpilicueta to right-back and have Branislav Ivanovic as backup for John Terry and Gary Cahill at centre-back. Kurt Zouma is also an option, but the Frenchman is currently injured and not expected to return for at least another month.

Chelsea are unlikely to stop their spending with the signing of the Fiorentina defender, as Sky Sports report that they have submitted a shock £30m bid plus add-ons to bring back former defender David Luiz from Paris Saint-Germain.

The Brazilian defender left Stamford Bridge two summers ago in a reported £50m deal, which is a world-record fee for a defender. The report claims that discussions are ongoing with the PSG star, who is said to be keen to return to the Premier League.