Chelsea midfielder Danny Drinkwater has arrived in Turkey to seal a six-month loan switch to Kasimpasa.
The 30-year-old failed to seal a move away from Stamford Bridge during the summer and spent the first half of the season playing with Chelsea's Under-23s, making headlines for getting involved in a brawl with 16-year-old Tottenham midfielder Alfie Devine.
Chelsea are eager to avoid paying the entirety of Drinkwater's £100,000-a-week wages for the remainder of the season and have been working tirelessly to find the Englishman a new home, and it looks like he may have found one in Turkey.
As first noted by Will Unwin, Drinkwater was given special dispensation to leave the UK and fly to Turkey, and he has arrived in Istanbul to finalise a move to Kasimpasa.
Goal's Nizaar Kinsella adds that Chelsea have had no choice but to agree to pay a portion of Drinkwater's hefty wages to get the deal over the line, in the hope that he will prove he can still enjoy make an impact at a top-flight team.
The two sides have done business with one another in the past. Chelsea sent Nigerian centre-back Kenneth Omeruo on two separate loans to the Turkish side, first in 2015/16 and again in 2017/18, and his form in Turkey earned a permanent move to Leganes in August 2019.
Chelsea are making an active effort to try and trim down the number of players on their books, with FIFA's new loan rules set to drastically reduce the number of players allowed out on loan.
The Blues started offloading unwanted players in the summer and have continued their mission this month. Lucas Piazon was permanently shipped off to Braga, and there may well be more loanees who find themselves sold before the window shuts.
Left-back Baba Rahman is in talks over a six-month loan move to prove his fitness ahead of a permanent exit in the summer, while Chelsea are also open to shipping out Marcos Alonso and Kepa Arrizabalaga to try and raise funds.
There's no urgent need to raise money, although Chelsea hope to be big players in the summer transfer window, with West Ham's Declan Rice their top target.
For more from Tom Gott, follow him on Twitter!
Source : 90min