{"id":17348,"date":"2026-07-14T20:33:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=17348"},"modified":"2026-07-14T20:33:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:33:57","slug":"chelsea-close-in-on-850000-melvine-malard-signing-read-chelsea-f-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=17348","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea close in on \u00a3850,000 Melvine Malard signing &#8211; Read Chelsea F.C."},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Chelsea are closing in on the signing of Manchester United forward Melvine Malard in a deal that could be worth up to \u00a3850,000.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Negotiations have reached their final stages, with some sources placing the fee closer to \u00a3750,000. The move would represent a club-record sale for Manchester United Women.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Malard has one year remaining on her United contract and rejected the opportunity to agree fresh terms. Chelsea have tracked the 26-year-old for an extended period and are now expected to complete the transfer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Guardian reports that Malard is looking forward to being reunited with Sonia Bompastor, who previously worked with the forward at Lyon.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8 EXCLUSIVE: Chelsea are close to signing Melvine Malard from Manchester United.<\/p>\n<p>The deal is expected to be a club-record sale for United, with the France forward set to reunite with Sonia Bompastor.<\/p>\n<p>(@TomJGarry) #CFCW <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0DhaAX0anD\">pic.twitter.com\/0DhaAX0anD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ChelseaReport (@chelsreport_) July 14, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Malard adds proven WSL and European quality<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Malard scored six goals from 18 Women\u2019s Super League starts last season and added four more during United\u2019s run to their first Champions League quarter-final.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She can play through the middle or from a wider position, giving Bompastor another flexible attacking option.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The France international\u2019s arrival would continue a significant reshaping of Chelsea\u2019s forward line following Sam Kerr\u2019s move to Gotham FC and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd\u2019s transfer to Lyon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ReadChelsea recently covered how Aggie Beever-Jones\u2019 new contract gives Chelsea a long-term attacking piece. Malard would add greater senior experience around the England international and summer signing Manaka Matsukubo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bompastor has known Malard since the forward\u2019s youth career and encouraged her move from R\u00e9union to Lyon. Their existing relationship should reduce the adjustment period at Chelsea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The reported fee represents a significant investment, but Chelsea are buying a player with WSL experience, Champions League goals and a clear understanding of the manager\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The agreement has not yet been formally announced. Once completed, Malard will give Chelsea another proven forward as they prepare to compete across several competitions next season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chelsea are closing in on the signing of Manchester United forward Melvine Malard in a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}