Chelsea poised to sign Michael Olise from Crystal Palace for £35m

Chelsea are set to sign Michael Olise after activating the Crystal Palace forward’s £35m release clause. Olise wants to join Chelsea, who are also putting the finishing touches to Roméo Lavia’s move from Southampton, and those deals would take the club’s net spend this summer to about £175m.

Olise is expected to be sidelined with a hamstring injury until at least the end of September, and the move will depend on the France Under-21 international passing a medical. He would provide Mauricio Pochettino with more options in attacking midfield.

If everything goes to plan Olise will compete with Raheem Sterling, Mykahilo Mudryk and Noni Madueke for a place on the wings. The 21-year-old, who joined Palace from Reading on a five-year deal in 2021, is dangerous when he cuts in from the right to use his left foot and can also play through the middle.

Manchester City have also considered a move for Olise, who was released by Chelsea when he was a youngster. Chelsea have pushed hardest and are confident of completing a deal. They have also considered Ajax’s Mohammed Kudus, Lyon’s Rayan Cherki and Celta Vigo’s Gabri Veiga, who is likely to join Napoli.

Chelsea could look for further attacking additions after losing Christopher Nkunku to a long-term knee injury. They have spent heavily again during this transfer window and have broken the British transfer record for the second time this year after buying Moisés Caicedo from Brighton for £115m. They are also finalising a deal to sign Lavia from Southampton for £50m plus add-ons after convincing the midfielder, like Caicedo, to pick them over Liverpool.

Pochettino is also looking for a goalkeeper after loaning Kepa Arrizabalaga to Real Madrid. The Morocco winger Hakim Ziyech has interest from a club in Turkey.

Arrizabalaga wants make his move to Madrid permanent. He has joined for a season after Thibaut Courtois sustained a cruciate knee ligament injury but at his presentation on Tuesday he admitted he would like to extend his spell, even with the Belgian expected to be fit by then.

Arrizabalaga was first on the verge of joining Madrid from Athletic Club in 2018, only for the coach Zinedine Zidane to express doubts about the deal, leaving him to join Chelsea instead. Having now made the move, he was asked whether he would like to continue beyond the end of his loan, to which he replied “ojala”, which translates roughly as: God willing.

“Today is the first day,” he said. “I come on loan but we will have time, we will see and hopefully with my effort and my performance level that can happen.”

Arrizabalaga, who had an offer from Bayern Munich, played 163 games across five up-and-down seasons in London, where he regained his place in the team last season having made only 11 league appearances in the two previous campaigns. Although Éduard Mendy was allowed to move to Saudi Arabia this summer, the £25m signing of Robert Sánchez opened the prospect of Arrizabalaga being left out again and he was given permission to move.

“I look at my five years there from a very positive point of view,” he said. “I spent five years at a great club, every season we fought for the biggest titles in Europe and in England, and I had the chance to play with great players, to lift trophies. Some moments are harder than others but when I look back what I see is nice, an experience to carry with me my whole life.

“I had other offers from important clubs but when I was told that this option was there, the decision was quite fast and quite easy.”.