Arda Turan to Chelsea: Agent confirms Atletico Madrid midfielder will leave this summer as Blues emerge as favourites for £29m
Chelsea could look to trigger a release clause in his contract that would see him follow Diego Costa to Stamford Bridge
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Your support makes all the difference.Arda Turan has decided to leave Atletico Madrid and will reveal the club he is joining within four days, his agent has revealed.
Atletico’s Turan has been linked with a big money move this summer with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United believed to be in the running with Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain to land the 28-year-old Turkey international.
But according to the Daily Mail, Turan has already set his heart on joining Chelsea, and a £29m deal could go through this summer following initial talks that have already taken place.
Turan’s agent Ahmet Bulut has confirmed that Turan wants to leave Madrid and admitted that the decision has “really surprised” the Spanish club, who do not want to lose one of their prize assets after seeing their best players leave on a continuous conveyor belt in recent years.
“A lot of things about his transfer are being published but not everything they say is true,” Bulut said in an interview with Turkish media outlet NTVSpor. “We want to clarify that at this time there is a lot of pressure about this situation but we don’t want to make a formal statement about his destination before he signs. That being said, in the next four days Arda will decide which team he’ll play for next season.
“Our decision really surprised Atletico Madrid,” Bulut added “They don’t want Arda to leave and were persistent but in the end, they respected and accepted our decision. But of course, nothing is completely done until he signs. However, we made sure the message was clear that we wanted to leave Atletico.”
With Turan having a £29m release clause in his current contract, any move by Chelsea would be all too familiar for Atletico. Last season, they saw Diego Costa leave to join the Blues after his £32m release clause was activated, while Chelsea also snapped up left-beck Filipe Luis and recalled their goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois following a three-year loan spell in Spain.
Atletico have also seen the likes of Radamel Falcao, Sergio Aguero and David De Gea leave in recent years, but just like before they have already lined up a replacement to launch a move for should Turan complete a move away.
It’s believed that manager Diego Simeone will move for Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk midfielder Yevhen Konoplyanka, who was linked last summer with a move to Tottenham and has also been on Arsenal and Liverpool’s radar in the past.
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