Chelsea seal £35m sixth summer signing at 1.30am, Conte revels in £60m+ late spree

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Chelsea left it late as they confirmed the signing of midfielder Danny Drinkwater from Leicester City at around 1.30am last night.

Reports claimed that the 27-year-old arrived at the club’s Cobham’s training ground late on Thursday to undergo his medical, and the race was on to get the deal over the line in time.

Clubs are able to gain a deal sheet extension in order to complete transfers in the hours following the deadline if the process of signing that player is well underway, and it would appear as though Chelsea have used that effectively here to unveil Drinkwater.

As per the club’s official site, the England international has signed a five-year contract with the Premier League champions, while The Sun add that the transfer fee is £35m as Antonio Conte adds real quality and depth to his midfield.

Drinkwater becomes Chelsea’s sixth summer signing, with Willy Caballero, Antonio Rudiger, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Alvaro Morata and Davide Zappacosta all joining the Blues.

Whether or not Conte is content with that remains to be seen as he was reportedly snubbed by key targets throughout the summer, including Ross Barkley who had a change of heart last night, as noted in the report.

Nevertheless, with the Evening Standard reporting that Zappacosta joined in a deal worth almost £27m, that’s a £62m spending spree in the final hours of the transfer window on two key additions that were desperately needed in important departments of the squad.

After recovering from their opening-day defeat, Chelsea will hope to kick on in their bid to defend their Premier League crown. However, it’s questionable as to whether or not Conte has enough to launch a serious bid to compete for the Champions League this time round too.

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