Hulk is likely to be handed around £120,000-a-week on a four-year contract, and following hot on the trail of Hazard and £6.5 million winger Marko Marin, he would be Chelsea’s third signing of the summer so far.
Chelsea have agreed a fee of £38m for the Porto striker Hulk and the deal is ready to be closed. The figure has been brokered by facilitators working on behalf on each club and, with the Brazil international’s personal terms not expected to be an obstacle, it merely remains for the directors on both sides to sign the relevant paperwork.
Walcott, Newcastle’s Cheick Tiote and Ajax star Gregory van der Wiel are all on Chelsea’s radar as owner Roman Abramovich and technical director Michael Emenalo look to reshape the squad, it added.