Chelsea Agree 18M Fee For Ramires

[King Of East]

Portuguese club Benfica say they have agreed an £18m deal to sell Brazil international midfielder Ramires to Premier League champions Chelsea.

The deal is subject to the 23-year-old - who has won 16 caps for Brazil - passing a medical at Stamford Bridge.

Ramires joined the Portuguese giants last summer for £6.2m from Cruzeiro.

He will become the second player to join Carlo Ancelotti's squad this summer following the arrival of Yossi Benayoun from Liverpool.

Benfica say the deal amounts to 22m euros, which equates to about £18.2m at current exchange rates.

Ramires, whose full name is Ramires Santos do Nascimento, was praised by Brazil boss Dunga after strong displays in the opening stage of the World Cup in South Africa.

If the deal goes through as expected, Benfica will have to repay £6m to sports entrepreneur Kia Joorabchian who part-financed the player's transfer from Cruzeiro to the Portuguese club.

Press Association Sport says that this arrangement would not present any difficulty under the Premier League's third party ownership rules.

Benfica president Luis Felipe Vieira said: "Ramires staying at Benfica does not depend solely on us. We have a partner and we must respect the contracts."
On their website Benfica said the deal will include full rights for the Premier League side.

Ramires featured throughout Brazil's opening matches in South Africa, but a booking in the final group game against Portugal ruled him out of his country's quarter-final loss to the Netherlands.

He joined the Brazil set-up in 2009, in time to play in every game of the country's successful defence of their Confederations Cup title.

He helped Benfica clinch the Portuguese Liga for the first time in five years, also winning the League Cup in the process.

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has been seeking to bolster the Blues midfield following the departure of Joe Cole, Michael Ballack and the return to Brazil of Deco.

The club completed their pre-season preparations with a 2-1 defeat against Hamburg on Wednesday and now take on Manchester United in the Community Shield on Sunday.

[takeonthekeeper]

Finally some players coming in to replace those that left

[Litmanen]

Good to see some young players being purchased. Hopefully guys like him and Kakuta start getting some game time.

[Gabon]

Before the world cup was unheard of and didn't make that much of an impression IMO.

Would of thought that Hernanes, Neymar, Pato or Luiz would have been the Brazilans most sought after :?

Will he make Chelseas best 11 any better With Essien back in the first 11 and Mikel as back up it's a costly squad addition IMO.

[Litmanen]

Before the world cup was unheard of and didn't make that much of an impression IMO.

Would of thought that Hernanes, Neymar, Pato or Luiz would have been the Brazilans most sought after :?

Will he make Chelseas best 11 any better With Essien back in the first 11 and Mikel as back up it's a costly squad addition IMO.

I don't think Mikel will get any game time, I also think that once Ramires finds his feet in the EPL, they'll push Essien higher up the park, I think that's been the idea all along anyway.

[Chelsea4thewin]

Mikel has always been the weak link in the team

[R. King]

Not a bad buy, will add a bit of extra strength and cover to the squad.

Not expecting too much from him at first but come Christmas will be a regular I suspect.

[El Pibe D'Oro]

Before the world cup was unheard of and didn't make that much of an impression IMO.

Would of thought that Hernanes, Neymar, Pato or Luiz would have been the Brazilans most sought after :?

Will he make Chelseas best 11 any better With Essien back in the first 11 and Mikel as back up it's a costly squad addition IMO.

Hernanes has gone to Lazio for 10 million Euro - last year they wanted 25 million. Great purchase by Lazio.