Chelsea forward Michy Batshuayi will be loaned to Monaco until the end of the season, sources have told ESPN FC.
The deal will not include an option to buy at the end of the current campaign.
Batshuayi is expected to be in Monaco on Sunday for his medical, and his transfer should be announced by Monday.
Monaco manager Thierry Henry wanted to sign a striker to partner Radamel Falcao up front or to rotate with the Colombia international, and Batshuayi became available after his initial season-loan long at Valencia was cut short by the Spanish club this week.
The 25-year-old Belgium international was never in Maurizio Sarri’s plans this season at Chelsea and never got going in La Liga. He featured 15 times for Valencia in the league but only scored once. In total, he had three goals in 23 appearances for Los Ches.
However, he was keen to come back to France where he shone with Marseille before a big-money move to Chelsea in the summer of 2016.
With Marseille, he scored 17 goals in 36 league matches in the 2015-2016 season and Monaco will be hoping that he can rediscover that form to help the struggling Ligue 1 side stay up. The 2017 French champions are going through a very difficult season, sitting 19th in the table. They have only won twice in Ligue 1 since Aug. 11.
The move would be the third loan for Batshuayi in the span of a year, after Borussia Dortmund (from January 2018 to May 2018) and Valencia.
He is Monaco’s fifth signing this month, following midfielders Cesc Fabregas — a former Chelsea teammate — and Antalyaspor’s William Vainqueur, in addition to left-back Fode Ballo-Toure from Lille and former Schalke centre-back Naldo.
In the Principality, Batshuayi will again work with Franck Passi, who was one of his managers at Marseille and his now Henry’s assistant at the Stade Louis II outfit. (ESPN)
