Chelsea are reportedly ready to smash the British transfer record for a striker by landing Marseille´s Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba.
The Blues have already had two bids rejected by the French club, but after upping their bid to £22m, the Marseille board are thought to have now agreed to see their most prized asset.
Drogba, whose goals were largely responsible for taking Marseille to the Uefa Cup final last season, will spend the weekend discussing personal terms with Chelsea.
Should the deal go through, it will beat the £19m Manchester United paid PSV Eindhoven three years ago for Ruud van Nistelrooy, a British transfer record for a striker.
Only last month, Marseille had insisted the striker was not for sale, with general manager Pape Diouf claiming that even a £30m bid " would make no difference".
Drogba would be the second frontman to arrive at Chelsea this summer, hot on the heels of Serbian Mateja Kezman, and his arrival is likely to accelerate Hernan Crespo´s departure.
The high-profile deal would be a boost for chief executive Peter Kenyon, whose wheeler-dealing methods have proved something of a hit and miss since arriving at the Bridge, with both Sven Goran Eriksson and Steven Gerrard turning their back on his overtures to move to SW3.
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