Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon said the Blues would unveil Florent Malouda at Stamford Bridge next week. The asking price for the 27-year-old Lyon winger is $34.12 million, but Kenyon would not discuss a transfer fee. He said Malouda would be the club’s final signing of the summer.
Which means this will be the quietest summer of the Roman Abramovich era. For a club used to spending around $200 million a summer, the capture of Malouda for $32 million looks a small price to pay for a quality player. However, the Frenchman will not be the English giant’s only signing of the summer-Chelsea has been frugal but shrewd in the transfer market, adding Bayern Munich’s Claudio Pizarro, Reading’s Steve Sidwell and Bolton’s Tal Ben Haim on free transfers. PSV Eindhoven’s Alex is expected to follow; Chelsea owns the 25-year-old center-back, but was forced to loan him out to PSV in 2004, after the Brazilian was denied a work permit.
“Honestly I don’t think we need anything else,” he told reporters. “Clearly the area we had issue with last season was central defence…we’ve strengthened that with Ben Haim and Alex, when the Alex deal gets finalised. Kenyon added that talks were continuing with several players such as England captain John Terry and teammate Frank Lampard over contract extensions.