Chelsea have signed Argentina international Facundo Buonanotte on a season-long loan deal from Brighton on transfer deadline day.
Bounanotte, who spent last season on loan at relegated Premier League club Leicester City, emerged as a top target for Leeds United last week.
But Chelsea hijacked Leeds’ move and agreed a deadline-day loan deal for the highly-rated and versatile forward.
Chelsea have paid £2m to sign Buonanotte, who will return to Brighton at the end of his loan spell at Stamford Bridge.
‘I’m very happy to join Chelsea,’ Buonanotte told the club’s official website. ‘It’s a great opportunity for me and I’m just looking to add as much to the squad as possible, help the team and help the staff.’
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Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler, meanwhile, said: ‘This is a great opportunity for Facundo to play regular Premier League and Champions League football this season and further his development.
‘Facundo has great potential and we see his long-term future with us here, and we will be monitoring his progress with Chelsea this season.’
Brighton signed Buonanotte from Argentine side Rosario Central in January 2023 and the youngster played 36 games for the Seagulls during the 2023-24 campaign.
Buonanotte spent last season on loan at Leicester and largely impressed despite the Foxes’ relegation to the Championship.
The attacker has earned two caps for Argentina and will hope for a productive spell at Stamford Bridge to force his way into Lionel Scaloni’s plans for next summer’s World Cup.
Buonanotte is Chelsea’s tenth signing of the summer, with the Blues spending almost £300m on new additions.
But Chelsea have raised almost as much in player sales and will increase their incoming cash by selling Nicolas Jackson and Tyrique George.
Chelsea have finally agreed a deal with Bayern Munich over a deal for striker Jackson.
Jackson travelled to Germany over the weekend to seal a move to the Bundesliga champions but Chelsea considered blocking the switch following Liam Delap’s injury setback.
Talks between the two clubs resumed on deadline day, however, and a deal was agreed with a few hours of the window remaining.
The deal will see Jackson join Bayern on loan with an obligation to sign permanently next summer. The loan fee is believed to be worth around 16.5m euros.
Bayern Munich will then sign Jackson on a permanent transfer for 80m euros (£69m).
Jackson enjoyed a promising first season at Stamford Bridge, scoring 17 goals, but went backwards last term.
Chelsea decided to put the Senegal international up for sale after signing Delap from Ipswich Town and Joao Pedro from Brighton earlier in the summer.
The Club World Cup champions have also agreed to sell academy graduate George on deadline day, with the versatile star set to join west London rivals Fulham.
Roma were believed to be leading the race to sign George but the deal collapsed, giving Fulham the chance to secure his signature in move worth £22m.
George, 19, made 26 appearances for Chelsea last season, showing glimpses of his potential in the club’s successful Europa Conference League campaign.
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