Chelsea have agreed a fee with Blackburn Rovers for Republic of Ireland international Damien Duff.
The London club had failed with several bids for the 24-year-old but have had their latest offer, believed to be £17 million including add-ons, accepted.
A statement on Chelsea's official website read: "Chelsea and Blackburn have now agreed a fee for Irish international Damien Duff and talks will begin soon.
Duff was at Manchester Airport this morning with his Blackburn team-mates but aborted a trip to America at the last minute to prepare for talks with Chelsea.
It is also believed that his agent, Pat Devlin, is also travelling to the UK to commence negotiations with Chelseas representatives.
Duff's inclusion in manager Graeme Souness' party had seemed to cast a cloud over a move to Stamford Bridge after Chelsea had failed with three previous bids.
But the Rovers official website confirmed that "the winger has now withdrawn from the club's trip to America and in order to speak to the London club's representatives.
"The decision on Duff's future now rests with the player himself.
New Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has been anxious to secure the services of Duff and it seems the latest bid has activated the clause in the player's contract which would allow him to talk to clubs offering a straight #17million fee.
Duff has flourished during the past three years after Graeme Souness replaced Brian Kidd as manager and maintained a high level of performance in the latter part of last season when he stayed injury-free.
Hamstring problems have hampered him, but from March to May he was in irresistible form. He scored six goals in nine games as Blackburn clinched sixth spot in the table and a place in the UEFA Cup for a second successive season.
Duff was also in impressive form for the Republic of Ireland - where he tends to play as a striker rather than on the left wing. He scored the winner against Norway in a friendly in March after finding the target in the victory over Georgia in a Euro 2004 qualifier.