Juventus, Chelsea agree 18-month Higuain loan — report

Chelsea’s search for a solution at center forward may be reaching an interesting conclusion if the latest report from The Oracle of Sarri, Alfredo Pedulla is to be believed.

Speaking on SportItalia tonight, Pedulla’s claimed that Juventus and Chelsea have agreed on an 18-month loan for Gonzalo Higuain, with a buy-option added for 2020 that surely neither club is expecting Chelsea to take up (unless it’s very very cheap).

If true, the arrangement is certainly a creative way to navigate around Chelsea’s one-year contract policy for players over 30 — similar to how Olivier Giroud, also over 30, signed a 1.5-year contract this time last year.

The timing is fairly obvious since both Milan and Juventus are in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at the moment, where they will contest the Supercoppa Italia on Wednesday night. Earlier reports claimed that the two teams will sit down on Tuesday to sort out Higuain’s situation — he’s currently on loan at Milan, but he’s apparently no longer keen on that and wants a reunion with Sarri instead (meanwhile, Juventus just want him off their books).

Further rumours coming out of Italy today have linked Genoa’s Krysztof Piatek as Higuain’s replacement at Milan, whose acceptance of the Higuain deal is not yet final and possibly won’t be until they secure the replacement. But all signs continue pointing towards Higuain pushing for this move away from the Rossoneri and back into the arms of Sarri.

So, everything seems to be falling into place. (Minus the part about what we’re going to do with Morata. Maybe Atletico will come through?)