Chelsea fullback’s move to Barcelona is ‘imminent’ – report

Amid all speculations surrounding the potential arrival of Robert Lewandowski, Barcelona appear to have made major strides in their pursuit of Cesar Azpilicueta.

According to Diario AS, the signing of the fullback could be imminent, and Barcelona may have Chelsea’s new owners to thank for that.

It appears the arrival of the Todd Boehly consortium as the club’s new owners have accelerated the major rebuild Chelsea are set to undergo in the upcoming summer transfer window.

One of the players who were facing an uncertain future at Stamford Bridge was Cesar Azpilicueta. But it seems the arrival of new owners has fast-tracked his agreement with the club over not activating the option to extend his contract for another year.

Azpilicueta had a gentleman’s agreement with the previous owner Roman Abramovich over his freedom to leave the club at the end of his contract at Stamford Bridge.

The Spaniard’s current deal at the club expires at the end of the season. Chelsea have the option to extend it for another year, but the two parties may have agreed not to activate the clause, thus allowing the defender to leave the club in the summer.

Chelsea not activating the clause should essentially confirm Azpilicueta’s move to Barcelona since the experienced Spaniard had already penned a four-year deal at Catalonia.

If everything goes well, Azpilicueta could follow the footsteps of Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie to become Barcelona’s third new signing of the summer.

The Catalans are hoping to add a few more names to the list, including none other than Robert Lewandowski, with the Bayern Munich forward growing seemingly keen on forcing through a move to Camp Nou after being left angered by the Bavarians.