Chelsea have a “total agreement” in place to sign RB Leipzig attacking midfielder Xavi Simons for £60m, according to journalist Orazio Accomando.

The Italian reporter, who works for Sportmediaset, claims that the Dutchman will sign a seven-year contract with the Blues.

Enzo Maresca’s side have been in talks with Leipzig about signing Simons for quite some time.

However, several factors have delayed talks, one of which relates to the Blues’ need to raise funds through player sales.

Chelsea will sell three players for £70m

Having received an initial £25m from Everton for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall earlier this week, it has been reported that Burnley will pay up to £20m for Armando Broja and another £25m for Lesley Ugochukwu.

With the departures of other players, including Christopher Nkunku, Carney Chukwuemeka, Renato Veiga, Axel Disasi and (possibly) Nicolas Jackson, also on the cards, there will be plenty of room in the budget for spending a sizeable sum on Simons, in addition to Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho.

Leipzig have contributed to protracted negotiations

There are also other issues that are outside Chelsea’s control. It is believed that Leipzig wanted to focus on the sale of Benjamin Sesko before addressing Simons’ future.

Now that the Bundesliga side have agreed a fee with Manchester United for the Slovenian international, it should help speed things up in terms of Chelsea’s transfer.

Leipzig have been looking at replacements for Simons, and it is thought that they have held talks about signing Harvey Elliott from Liverpool.

Although a fee between the two clubs has not been agreed yet, the fact they are actively pursuing Elliott does suggest that they have accepted that Simons is leaving. We shall have to wait and see if this report from Italy is picked up by other sources.

Read more about the Chelsea First Team Squad for 2025/26 here