Chelsea are in the process of finalising a deal to sign Danny Welbeck from Brighton & Hove Albion.
Welbeck has been granted permission to undergo a medical by Brighton which, if all goes to plan, is expected to take place by the end of the week, enabling the 35-year-old to join the Chelsea squad in Hong Kong.
Chelsea and Welbeck have an agreement in principle on a two-year contract.
The Athletic reported on Monday that Chelsea were exploring a move to sign Welbeck, with his qualities as a leader and a striker appealing to manager Xabi Alonso.
Welbeck is contracted to Brighton until next summer. He scored a career-high 13 Premier League goals last season as Brighton finished eighth and qualified for the Conference League.
After targeting players under the age of 25 in recent windows, Chelsea have pivoted to pursuing experience this summer, attempting to sign Sunderland captain Granit Xhaka (33) in early July and showing interest in John Stones (32) following his exit from Manchester City as a free agent. The Athletic also reported on Monday that Chelsea were working to sign 36-year-old Jordan Henderson from Brentford and were the leading contenders among several Premier League clubs vying for his signature.
What Welbeck offers at 35
Analysis by tactics writer Liam Tharme
Since joining Brighton in 2020 from Watford, Welbeck has scored 51 goals and provided 18 assists in 201 appearances. Across spells with Manchester United, Sunderland, Arsenal, Watford and Brighton, he has played 400 Premier League games and scored 90 goals.
Welbeck has truly come to life since Brighton appointed head coach Fabian Hurzeler two years ago, scoring 25 goals in 76 appearances under him, just two fewer than he scored in 112 matches for Arsene Wenger at Arsenal in the 2010s, and 21 of the 25 have been non-penalty strikes in the Premier League.
“He is not only scoring goals but he’s in a brilliant shape, finding good connections between his team-mates, creating a good togetherness,” Hurzeler said of Welbeck after he netted twice in a 2-1 home win against Liverpool in March.
“I think he can help every team in the world — including England,” he added, with talk ongoing at the time about Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad.
In an era of ball-to-feet No 10s and withdrawn strikers, Welbeck stays high up the pitch, runs the channels and occupies defenders. He does his best work in the penalty area and makes a habit of darting in-behind to attack through balls.
Welbeck’s penalty-box threat is important, too. The goalscoring success he has enjoyed in recent years — 2024-25 and 2025-26 were his first double-digit league goal hauls of a top-flight career that began in 2008 — owes a lot to clever positioning. The Mancunian likes to lurk at the back post and is clever at nudging defenders to put them off-balance.
He can score with both feet, and his head, and repeatedly gets into quality areas to do that from.
Since the start of last season, he’s had as many big chances as Palmer (37 — both have scored with 17 of them) and former Brighton forward Joao Pedro is the only Chelsea player with more (43).