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The Nemanja Matic situation sure is escalating quickly. Although he didn't end up skipping out of Benfica's key match against Porto as some had suggested he would, all signs point to him moving to Chelsea very soon, perhaps within the week. Perhaps, in fact, within the day:
Matic will be in London today, after Zurich. Tomorrow he signs with cfc. Benfica and cfc still in talks.
— Gonçalo Lopes (@_GoncaloLopes) January 13, 2014
So says Portuguese journalist Goncalo Lopes, at least. I'm not entirely sure how Matic can sign a deal with the club before Chelsea and Benfica have come to an agreement, but I'd imagine that the two sides are now close enough (latest rumour has the transfer fee at €25 million) that Matic is comfortable with coming to London in advance. Even if he doesn't end up signing tomorrow, talks seem advanced enough that it'd be a surprise if he didn't join up this January.
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The last two times we did a deal with Benfica we ended up with Ramires and David Luiz, so that feels pretty good. We just have to make sure we don't send a promising kid in return as a makeweight, is all. Or at least give him a buyback clause.
