Chelsea near to completing second transfer after beating Everton to the signing for Lille defender Gabriel Magalhaes |

Chelsea is close to signing Lille defender Gabriel Magalhaes after beating Everton in the race for the player’s signature.

Magalhaes is the latest player to rise to prominence at Lille having joined the Ligue 1 outfit from Brazilian minnows Avai FC in 2017.

And his stay with the French outfits is on the brink of coming to an end after reports in France claim Chelsea is near completing a deal for the Brazilian International.

There was little doubt that Magalhaes, 22, could leave the Stade Pierre Mauroy after signing a new 3-year contract extension just last January to see his stay at Lille for the next three years.

After breaking into Lille first team, the Sao Paulo product has been incredible at the back, making has 52 appearances for Lille, including six in the Champions League, and Everton agreed a deal to sign the defender at the end of this season.

His move to Everton was hampered by the coronavirus outbreak after reports suggest the defender had already passed off-site medical checks.

And now, Eurosport reporter Manu Lonjon claims Premier League rivals Chelsea are on the verge of stealing the services of the Everton target, when claim was made on Lonjon twitter handle.

“Gabriel (LOSC) at Chelsea is very hot,” Lonjon wrote on Twitter. “Almost completed. Everton also tries it but Chelsea far ahead…”.

If the deal is done anytime soon (for around £30million) even at the time the world is fighting covid-19 pandemic, he will become Chelsea’s second signing under Frank Lampard after the manager has already signed Moroccan dribbling wizard Hakim Ziyech.

The former Brazilian U-20 International has been linked with Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton before a move to Everton failed in the January transfer window. After his contract renewal with Lille, he spoke about rumours of him to English Premier League.

“I just renewed the contract. I heard about conversations, I saw things on websites in England, but I have my head in Lille. I’m very calm to finish the season well and to achieve great things next season.”

Chelsea have Antonio Rudiger, Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen and Fikayo Tomori in central defence and it would be interesting the add the Brazilian who have to qualities to be a world class figure in their squad.