Cesare Casadei will fly to London on Wednesday evening to complete his £12.6million move to Chelsea.
Inter Milan could earn a further £4.2m in add-ons for their 19-year-old midfielder, who will complete his medical and seal his switch to Stamford Bridge in the next 24 hours.
Chelsea are set to beat late competition from Nice to secure the signing of Casadei, one of Italy’s finest young talents, on a six-year deal.
The signing of Casadei is part of a succession plan for N’Golo Kante and Jorginho, who both have under a year left on their Chelsea contracts.
It is also part of a radical round of investment in young players at Chelsea which has seen them spend over £40m on players including Casadei, Aston Villa midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka and Arsenal winger Omari Hutchinson.
There are expected to be further moves further down the youth levels, with a 13-year-old in advanced talks to switch from Crystal Palace to Chelsea.
The new Todd Boehly-Clearlake ownership group are keen to back academy director Neil Bath to take his project to the next level and establish themselves as the best in the world.
For Inter, the sale of Casadei is understood to help fund the permanent signing of Romelu Lukaku, who is on a season-long loan from Chelsea.
However, there also remains an informal agreement between the two clubs over a second year on loan at the Giuseppe Meazza should the circumstances be right.
