London, Aug 29: Chelsea have agreed a £13.8m fee for Real Madrid midfielder Claude Makelele. The 30-year-old France international is in London and is expected to be unveiled as Chelsea's latest signing later on Friday.
Chelsea and Real officials met at Thursday's Champions League draw in Monaco to thrash out the final details of the deal, which has seen Chelsea increase their initial offer of £10m for the player.
"We will miss Makelele if he leaves because he is a very good player, but I believe Real Madrid has the resources to fill any gap in the squad so I am not worried, " said Madrid commercial director Emilio Butragueno.
Makelele made it clear he wanted to leave the Spanish champions and recently refused to take part in training in protest at being one of the lowest-paid players at the club.


He was angered by Real's failure to offer him a new contract with improved conditions and set his heart on joining Chelsea's Russian revolution.

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Makelele will become Chelsea's 11th signing of the summer in what has been the biggest spending spree ever witnessed in football history.

Tottenham goalkeeper Neil Sullivan will be another player arriving at Stamford Bridge should he pass a medical on Friday and agree personal terms with the club.


Under new billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, the club have splashed out £96m on signings such as Hernan Crespo, Damien Duff, Juan Sebastian Veron and Adrian Mutu.


Real hope to use the extra money raised from the sale of Makelele to sign central defender Roberto Ayala from Valencia, although the Spanish champions have had an initial bid for the Argentine rejected.

"He is a very important player for Valencia and he is going to stay at the club in the future," said Valencia club president Jaime Orti.

"I just want to reassure the fans that the player will remain here to help Valencia attain more success in the future."


Bureau Report