Report: Mario Pašalić heading to Spain on loan

This one isn't official just yet in that it's on neither club's website, but multiple outlets (here is one) are reporting that Elche president José Sepulcre has announced the signing on a one-year loan of Chelsea midfielder Mario Pašalić. This was, apparently, done during a press conference which followed their first game of the pre-season, a 2-0 win against lowly Eldense.

Since I don't regularly listen to Elche press conferences, I can't confirm the accuracy of said report, but there's not a lot of reason for everyone else to be lying about it at once. Assuming this is happening, then, it's a pretty good place for Pašalić to end up. La Liga is a major jump from the Prva HNL, and Elche have a weak enough squad that there's every chance he can break into their first team and become a regular. Pašalić has been talking about a loan move to Spain for some time as well, so this seems to be in line with what he wanted.

Hopefully this deal gets wrapped up soon. Pašalić is a great prospect and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do in a top-tier league.