By Harry Harris, Football Correspondent
Intermediaries have put together a world record £100 million
"package" deal to take Argentine international superkid Sergio Agüero to Chelsea in the January transfer
window.
DenisDoyle/GettyImages
Sergio Aguero rose to the occasion in scoring a brace
against Chelsea in a recent Champions League encounter
The £100 million includes the player's salary which will be
scaled up to reach nearly £250,000-a-week in the final years of the
proposed Chelsea playing contract, the £40 million transfer plus
near-£10m add-ons related to Chelsea's success, meaning a near £50
million transfer fee, with added agents' fees.
The 21-year-old Atlético Madrid striker Sergio Leonel Agüero del
Castillo, has privately indicated "yes" to a move that will make
him one of the highest paid players in the world, with a transfer
fee that will smash the British record of £32.5m for Robinho by
some distance.
Chelsea almost signed the boy who is engaged to Diego Maradona's
daughter, Giannina, with whom he has a son, in the summer, but the
deal broke down over the players £6m-a-year wage demands on top of
Atletico demanding a £60m transfer fee.
However Chelsea know they have to meet the player's wage demands
to make a spectacular signing in the January window while their
FIFA ban is still suspended.
Talks have been on-going for several weeks between a host of
middlemen intent on making the deal happen, and there is now room
for optimism that it will advance sufficiently in the next four
weeks to be in a position for the move to take place in
January.
ESPNsoccernet has been told by one of the insiders involved with
the deal that there is far more flexibility on all sides than there
was been in the summer when the deal broke down.
My source revealed: "There is still more talking to do, but
let's see. There is now a possibility, although with so many
complications involved you would have to say its still 50-50
whether it will finally go though."
Chelsea are keen to capture one of the best young players in
world football at a time when their transfer ban has been suspended
pending a FIFA hearing. They urgently need to make significant
signings at a time when the big clubs usually only make interim
moves and wait for the summer.
Roman Abramovich cannot take the risk of waiting until the end
of the season in case Chelsea are banned from making any signings,
so needs to act now, and intermediaries have stepped up the process
of attempting to bring Aguero to the Bridge.
Chelsea are not as reluctant to invest in Agüero's salary as
much as they are about Atletico's asking price of £60 million,
which has dropped to £55 million. Talks are aimed at trying to get
the fee below £50 million and closer to £40 million.
A compromise of money offered up in relation to Chelsea's
success is the logical route to resolve the differences in the
transfer fee valuation.
Chelsea would be prepared to hit the £50 million mark, if it
included add-ons related to success, given that Real Madrid paid
£80 million for Ronaldo, and the Argentine is a few years
younger.
Chelsea would ideally like to sign Aguero for six years, but
five years is normally regarded as a long-term deal, but as the
player is so young at 21, they be might be able to stretch to six
years or more, even if the final years are optional.
While Chelsea might start to pay the youngster £6
million-a-year, that will rise quickly to £10 million and that will
go even higher in the final year of his deal.
Overall, including bonuses, and given Chelsea's propensity for
silverware, he can realistically expect to yield £50 million from
his personal terms and image rights, to add to the near £50 million
transfer fee, totally an eye watering £100 mllion.
The player's agent Bruno Satin, head of the football division of
IMG, one of the world's biggest sports agencies, based in Chiswick
in London, is one of a number of agents working on negotiating an
acceptable fee with Athletico.
A transfer of £40 million plus a near £10 million add ons based
on Chelsea's success during the duration of the players contract
would be one of the biggest deals in world football. The entire
financial package won't be far short of the Real Madrid deals for
Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo.
My source added: "Money was the problem the deal fell through in
the summer, and the money is the problem now, but we shall see, as
I said, the talks are on going and everyone seems to want to find a
solution."
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti has targeted Agüero as his only
major signing during the January transfer window. The club have
been given permission to buy and sell after the Fifa-imposed
transfer ban, following the Gaël Kakuta affair, was frozen pending
an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Agüero scored two spectacular goals during the recent 2-2 draw
with Chelsea in the Champions League. After the match Ancelotti
joked that he would like to sign the exciting striker. But before
that Ancelotti admitted Chelsea have been "monitoring" this player
for some time.
Chelsea also remain interested in Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery,
who would command a similar hefty investment in fees and salaries,
and who is also greatly admired by Ancelotti.
But my source indicates that Ribery will be hard, if not
impossible, to prise from Bayern in January, but will be a far more
realistic target in the summer, if Chelsea win their appeal with
FIFA. Chelsea's determination to secure the Aguero deal as they are
aware that if their CAS appeal fails, they cannot make another
signing for some time.
Agüero will not be eligible for Chelsea in the Champions League
this season, having already played for Atlético, but Abramovich
wants to win back the Premier League title from Manchester United,
and the club are concerned about losing Didier Drogba and Solomon
Kalou to the African Nations in January.
At 15 years and 35 days Aguero beat Maradona's record as the
youngest player to make debut in Argentinean top flight. In May
2006, he joined Atlético Madrid for £16m.
He lost his place in the Argentine attack during the chaotic
final stages of qualification, and needs to be playing at the
highest level to play in the World Cup finals in South Africa,
rather than with struggling Athletico, a factor that Maradona has
made clear to him, and one of the reasons the player is keen to
move to the Bridge.
