Andre Villas-Boas looks set to take another step in his mission to revolutionise his ageing Chelsea side by finally landing long-term target Kevin de Bruyne from Genk, The Mirror has reported.
The Blues boss has been tracking the 20-year-old Belgian for some time and came close to capturing his man in the summer only to see a deal collapse when both clubs failed to agree on the player’s valuation.
Persistence appears to have paid off though as De Bruyne could be a Chelsea player by the end of the week after Genk Director, Dirk Degraen flew in to London for talks with the Premier League side.
If a deal can be agreed this time around then it is believed the winger will be loaned straight back to Genk where he will see out the remainder of the Belgian Jupiler Pro League.
“Dirk Degraen is in London and the expectation is that (the transfer of De Bruyne) will be finished this week,” said a spokesman for the Belgian outfit, in The Mirror’s report.
“The assumption is that Kevin de Bruyne will be transferred to Chelsea and then will finish the season (on loan) at Genk.”
Almost 2 weeks ago, Footballtransfertavern.com reported that the left-sided winger had claimed Chelsea were still interested in signing him and will come back in for him before the start of next season.
In another report from The Mirror, De Bruyne spoke of his failed proposed move to West London last summer and how he believed Chelsea had prepared a plan to make another attempt at signing him.
He said, “Chelsea are still interested in me and already have a plan in place for me.
“Staying at Genk for another season is not an option for me.
“Chelsea were serious about signing me but maybe Genk’s asking price was too high.”
True to the winger’s word, Chelsea appear to have started the ball rolling and kicked their supposed “plan” in to action.
The Portuguese boss has already managed to capture 26-year-old defender Gary Cahill from Bolton Wanderers during the current transfer window, and according to talkSPORT he has also had a £16.7m bid rejected for Shakhtar Donetsk’s 23-year-old Brazilian midfielder, Willian.
Villas-Boas clearly wants to reduce the average age of the stale squad he inherited over the summer and recent signs suggest he is going the right way about it. If Chelsea manage to secure a move for De Bruyne, he will become AVB’s third Belgian signing following the arrivals of Romelu Lukaku from Anderlecht and Thibaut Courtois, also from Genk.
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