CHELSEA are poised to make history by signing Edouard Mendy.
The fee with Rennes is set to exceed 30million euros — or £27.7million — which would be a record for a Ligue 1 keeper.
Mendy, 28, skipped training yesterday and has been left out of the Rennes team to face Nimes tomorrow.
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Rennes coach Julien Stephan says the player is injured — but Mendy was spotted with his agent.
Stephan admitted: “He can have an exceptional chance to develop his career and we have to listen to that.”
Chelsea upped their offer in the last 24 hours because the two clubs were miles apart in their valuations on Thursday.
Mendy is being brought in to challenge Blues’ No 1 Kepa Arrizabalaga, 25.
The £71.6m Spaniard struggled last season and boss Frank Lampard remains unconvinced.
Mendy will join Willy Caballero as rivals for Kepa, while Lampard oversees the development of highly-rated academy graduate Nathan Baxter, 21, who spent last season on loan at Ross County.
SunSport exclusively revealed how Arrizabalaga, the world’s most expensive keeper, is prepared to fight for the No1 shirt.
The 25-year-old was axed for the FA Cup final and a Champions League clash at Bayern Munich at the end of last season.
He still has four years left on a £150,000-a-week contract and Chelsea would want to recoup at least £50m of their transfer fee back. This has put off clubs offering him a way out.
