According to multiple outlets, all across the world wide web, Chelsea FC have signed yet another player this January transfer window. Malo Gusto, 19, is moving over from Lyon. The transfer fee could reach as high as €40 million, with a €30m (or £26.3m) guaranteed in base, plus an additional €10m in prospective add-ons. The French right-back, who agreed to personal terms just last week, will join the club this summer, on a six-and-a-half-year deal.
He’s set to undergo a medical for his new club tomorrow, and he will soon becomes the club’s seventh signing of the window.
He joins the ranks of Noni Madueke, Mykhailo Mudryk, David Datro Fofana (Molde), Benoit Badiashile (Monaco), Andrey Santos (Vasco da Gama) and Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid- Loan). Indeed no one has been busier this window than Chelsea. The Gusto signing comes after Lyon manager Laurent Blanc publicly said that his club’s board had guaranteed to him that Gusto would stay put for the rest of the season.
“The board have guaranteed to me that (Rayan) Cherki and Malo Gusto will be here until the end of the season,” Blanc said to the media today.
The agreed upon deal essentially means that Gusto is now a member of Chelsea (even though he won’t feature for them until next season), but he will be “loaned back” to Lyon for the remainder of this season.
Expect an official announcement in the next day or two. With all these new players coming in, including now Malo Gusto, club chairman Todd Boehly and co-controlling owner Behdad Eghbali have indeed been very busy.
Expect a lot of players to be heading out the door this summer, in order to balance it all out.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
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