Chelsea given £17m transfer green light as club on verge of sixth signing for Enzo Maresca

Enzo Maresca's first taste of a transfer window for Chelsea promises to be an extremely enlightening one for the newly-appointed head coach.

Maresca, who was appointed Blues boss on a long-term deal last month, has already seen five new faces come through the door at Stamford Bridge since joining the club. Tosin Adarabioyo, Estevao Willian (joins in 2025), Omari Kellyman, Marc Guiu and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall have arrived at Cobham for just short of £100million (not including add-ons).

Now, Chelsea are close to completing their sixth signing of the summer of Boca Juniors defender Aaron Anselmino, football.london understands. The Blues have agreed a £17million fee with the Argentine club for the 19-year-old defender, who is expected to officially become a Chelsea player very soon.

There has been talk that Anselmino would move to Chelsea's sister club Strasbourg on loan for the upcoming season when the move to Stamford Bridge is made official. However, football.london has been told that no decision on that front has been made quite yet.

Anselmino, though, is very much regarded as 'one for the future' by Chelsea officials. He will become the latest teenager to join the club this summer following the arrivals of Estevao, Guiu and Kellyman.

Plenty in Anselmino's home country of Argentina are raving about him already, with such little experience to his name. One of them is one of the country's greatest-ever footballers in Juan Roman Riquelme, who is also the president at Boca Juniors. Speaking earlier this year to ESPN Argentina, Riquelme said: "With the growth, the head he has and the desire to learn that he shows, he is on his way to being a great footballer."

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Once Anselmino does sign, something that is widely expected now, he may well join up with his new teammates for pre-season before a decision on where he will be playing his football next term is made. A large chunk of Chelsea players returned to Cobham on Monday.

Adarabioyo, who became a Chelsea player officially on the day, was present at Cobham to undergo some fitness tests. The majority of players at training this week have been returning loanees, while a lot of senior players are expected to return on Monday, football.london understands.

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Fitness tests were done on Monday and the following days have been more standard training sessions. The likes of Harvey Vale and Tino Anjorin, who both could be loaned out again this summer, have both been present at Chelsea's Surrey base this week.

Some senior players, like Benoit Badiashile, are expected back on Monday. However, there are a lot of first-team players still overseas representing their countries, either at Euro 2024 or Copa America.