Chelsea are closing in on the signing of Porto wing-back Alvaro Pereira after the Portuguese
Manager Andre Villas-Boas wants Pereira as a replacement for Yury Zhirkov, who was sold to Anzhi Makhachkala earlier this month.
Chelsea have already tabled a £16.6million bid for the Uruguay international, which has been rejected, but they are confident a deal will be agreed.
Porto take on Barcelona in Monaco tomorrow night for the trophy which is always played between the Europa League winners and Champions League winners of the previous campaign.
Pereira is understood to have told Porto that he wants to move to Stamford Bridge and has significantly not been named in the squad to play in the match.
The 25-year-old will not come cheap - he has a £26m release clause in his contract - and
Villas-Boas wants him to provide competition for Ashley Cole at left-back as well as an option to play left midfield.
It means the future of Florent Malouda is in question once again having been offered to Italian clubs earlier in the summer and Juventus are being linked with a £5m bid.
Meanwhile, Chelsea's new £24.5m signing Juan Mata has revealed he joined the Blues to help Villas-Boas turn them back into great entertainers.
The Spain international said: "He [Villas-Boas] said he wanted Chelsea this season to play more attacking football and that I would be a big part of that."
