Chelsea confirm transfer of 26yo French star

Chelsea have confirmed the transfer of French defender Maxence Lacroix from Crystal Palace.

The 26-year-old emerged as the Blues' top centre-back target earlier last month, but the club still needed to persuade the Eagles to sell him.

Initially, Palace were eyeing at least £60 million for the former Wolfsburg man, but they eventually agreed to sanction his sale for around £52m.

Lacroix has now put pen to paper on a long-term contract with the west London giants, and he is looking forward to playing for them soon.

He told the club's official website: "I'm really proud, really happy, to be part of this beautiful project and I just want to start playing."

With Lacroix having made the switch, the Blues are expected to fast-forward the departure of Trevoh Chalobah in the coming days.

Como are particularly pushing to land the Blues graduate and they seem prepared to pay a package of around £25m to secure his services.