Chelsea are set to resume their summer transfer business with a £22.9m offer for Zenit St Petersburg midfielder Axel Witsel.
Witsel could well be the third arrival at Stamford Bridge, after deals were completed for Radamel Falcao and Asmir Begovic.
Manchester United are also being linked with Witsel, but Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is looking to steal a march on the Red Devils.
Blues owner Roman Abramovich is believed to be flying out to Russia to oversee the deal himself.
Having brought in Falcao to replace Didier Drogba, and Begovic replacing Petr Cech, Mourinho is now apparently looking to strengthen the midfield.
The Belgian midfielder has over 50 caps for his country, and is a versatile player, able to play in the middle of the park, as an attacking midfielder, and can even adapt to the right-wing.
He helped Zenit win the Russian Premier League last season, and recently scored in a 4-2 penalty shoot out success over Lokomotiv Moscow to win the Russian Super Cup.
He was named Belgian Young Player of the Year for 2007-08. Blues fans will hope he can be a nice addition to the midfield should be sign.
by Steve Osborne
