Chicago Fire goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina has agreed personal terms with Premier League giants Chelsea, 90min can confirm.
As revealed by 90min in January, the teenager has been attracting attention from Europe for some time now. Slonina's representatives met with clubs from Italy and Germany, as well as Atletico Madrid, whose city rivals Real Madrid also showed serious interest.
But it quickly became apparent that the Premier League would be Slonina's destination, with London giants Chelsea keen to bring the USMNT prospect on board.
90min sources say Slonina has agreed personal terms with Chelsea and that the Chicago Fire have been informed of the situation. The Blues will now officially submit a bid of $10m (£8.5m) to the MLS side - the highest fee ever paid for an American goalkeeper.
Should the move go through Slonina will remain on loan with the Fire to continue gaining first-team experience.
Who is Gabriel Slonina?
Still only 18, Slonina has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past year, winning the No.1 jersey with the Chicago Fire and going on to make 31 appearances for the club so far, already keeping 12 clean sheets.
Slonina is capped across various youth levels for the United States and has been called into Gregg Berhalter's senior camp on multiple occasions, though he's yet to feature. The teenager also received a call-up to the Polish national team early this year, but eventually declined it to pledge his future to the United States.
So impressive has Slonina's form been that he's even drawn comparisons to the iconic Gianluigi Buffon from USMNT legend Tony Meola.
Source : 90min