Eden Hazard will complete his move to Real Madrid in a deal worth up to £130million after Chelsea finally gave the green light for the Belgian to leave in one of the biggest transfers of the summer.
Negotiations between the clubs have been taking place all week and a breakthrough has now been reached over the fee with the contract ready to be signed.
Real had been reluctant to pay more than £88m for the Belgian, but eventually agreed to a deal that is set to earn Chelsea as much as £130m once all the bonuses have been met.
It is understood the bonuses are easily achievable and the Blues are extremely confident they will receive the full £130m for the forward, who only had one year left on his contract.
Real will claim to have negotiated Chelsea down, arguing the initial fee is around £88m, but the full value of the deal is much higher and will be viewed as another big win for director Marina Granovskaia inside Stamford Bridge.
Granovskaia stuck to her price, despite Hazard publicly stating he wanted to leave after last week’s Europa League final victory over Arsenal and Real’s attempts to play hardball.
Hazard is on international duty with Belgium, but the agreement of personal terms between the forward and Real are viewed as a formality.
The deal means Chelsea will make almost £100m profit on Hazard, who they signed for £32m from Lille in 2012. In his seven seasons at the club, he scored 110 goals and won two Premier League titles, two Europa Leagues, the FA Cup and the League Cup.
The blow of losing Hazard is expected to be softened by Chelsea agreeing a new five-year contract with Callum Hudson-Odoi, who will take the 28-year-old’s place on the left side once he recovers from injury.