Chelsea to sign Brazil midfielder Ramires for £17m

The 23-year-old will have a medical at the Premier League club on Wednesday.
It is thought a four-year deal for the right-sided player, who has 16 caps for his country, could be concluded by the end of the week.

Ramires, whose full name is Ramires Santos do Nascimento, was praised by Dunga after strong displays in the opening stage of the World Cup.

If the deal goes through Benfica will have to repay £6m to sports entrepreneur Kia Joorabchian, who part-financed the player's transfer from Cruzeiro to the Portuguese club.
Press Association Sport says that this arrangement would not present any difficulty under the Premier League's third party ownership rules.

Benfica president Luis Felipe Vieira said: "Ramires staying at Benfica does not depend solely on us. We have a partner and we must respect the contracts."

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If Chelsea play the midfield diamond this season he'll fit in well
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Ramires featured throughout Brazil's opening in South Africa, but a booking in the final group game against Portugal ruled him out of his country's quarter-final loss to the Netherlands.
Ramires joined the Brazil set-up in 2009, in time to play in every game of the country's successful defence of their Confederations Cup title.

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti has been seeking to bolster the Blues midfield following the departure of Joe Cole, Michael Ballack and the return to Brazil of Deco.
The club complete their pre-season preparations against Hamburg on Wednesday before taking on Manchester United in the Community Shield on Sunday.

Sourced from BBC Sports News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/8881118.stm