• Fee for centre-half could reportedly reach £5.2m
• Defender to be loaned back to Czech club next season

Chelsea have signed the 17-year-old Czech defender Tomas Kalas. Chelsea and the player’s agency, Sport Invest Group, said Kalas will stay with his Czech club, Olomouc, on loan next season before moving to Stamford Bridge.

Other clubs interested in the player included Arsenal, Milan, Bayer Leverkusen and Hoffenheim. Details of the contract have not been released but Czech media have reported that Olomouc could receive 160m koruna (£5.2m).

The Chelsea website said of the player: “Very athletic and quick, he is a very good one-on-one defender and comfortable on the ball. We feel there is a lot of potential in the player, and we feel at the minute it is the right time to get him, but it would be good for him to stay there and get first-team experience, and we look forward to him joining us next year.

“Obviously we will stay in touch and he will come across here when appropriate. He is a right-sided centre-half who can play right-back.”

ChelseaTransfer windowguardian.co.uk

• Israeli believed to have finalised four-year contract
• Fee yet to be agreed between clubs

Yossi Benayoun has, according to reports, agreed to join Chelsea on a four-year contract from Liverpool, although it is believed that both clubs have yet to agree a fee.

Chelsea have reportedly been pursuing the Israeli international for some time and see him as an ideal replacement for Joe Cole, who will leave the club next month after failing to agree terms on an extension to his deal at Stamford Bridge.

Benayoun has been a moderate success at Liverpool since joining for £5m in July 2007 but is believed to have fallen out with the former manager Rafael Benítez during the last campaign and has been looking to leave Anfield ever since.

According to the Israeli Sport 5 website, the 30-year-old has finalised personal terms with the Premier League champions, but the move is far from completed. Chelsea, it is believed, do not want to spend more than £4m on the player while Liverpool want closer to £10m.

Liverpool are currently without a manager following the departure of Benítez earlier this month and it is also possible that his replacement, widely expected to be Roy Hodgson, could demand that Benayoun remains at the club. It is likely, though, that a compromise will be reached shortly that will see the former West Ham player return to London.

LiverpoolChelseaTransfer windowSachin Nakraniguardian.co.uk