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Danny Welbeck## The latest on Chelsea's pursuit of Brighton striker Danny Welbeck with the 35-year-old expected to move to Stamford Bridge in the near future
02:04, 29 Jul 2026Updated 07:24, 29 Jul 2026
Chelsea are finalising a deal to sign Danny Welbeck with the Brighton striker expected to sign a two-year contract at Stamford Bridge.
Sources close to negotiations say the 35-year-old striker is set to commit his future to the Blues until 2028 with the deal now in its advanced stages. Personal terms over a two-year contract have been agreed in principle with Welbeck and Brighton have given the forward permission to complete a medical.
Xabi Alonso and the club's sporting directors are targeting what sources describe as 'ready-made' players this summer. Chelsea failed in their pursuit of Granit Xhaka earlier this summer but are now closing in on a deal to sign Welbeck, with talks over a move for 36-year-old Jordan Henderson also underway.
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Brentford are willing to let Henderson leave on a free transfer despite the former Liverpool midfielder having a year remaining on his contract with the west London club. Henderson has 463 Premier League appearances to his name while Welbeck has exactly 400 to his name.
As for Welbeck, the striker is set to fly out to Hong Kong and join the Chelsea squad for the remainder of their pre-season tour. Alonso's Blues squad are currently in Sydney, Australia, where they got their summer underway with a 6-4 victory over Western Sydney Wanderers on Tuesday evening.
After the match, Alonso was asked specifically about Welbeck and Henderson but the Chelsea manager was reluctant to give too much away. He said: "No, I'm sure that from today until the last day of the transfer [window] there will be a lot of rumours, so to be commenting on all of them.
"It's going to be a hard task, but for sure we need proper balance in terms of qualities, in terms of positions, in terms of balance. We want to have a complete squad and we want to make a good team. For that we have an idea, we have a plan and let's see how we set it up until the start of the Premier League."
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