Leicester City set to sign Chelsea target Andrej Kramaric

The Blues were last week confident of securing the signing, but the Croatian forward is poised to join Nigel Pearson's Foxes instead

New boy: Leicester are close to completing the signing of highly-rated Croatian striker Andrej Kramaric

Leicester City hope to complete a significant transfer coup by beating Chelsea to the signing of Andrej Kramaric.

Premier League leaders Chelsea were last week confident of securing the signing of Croatian forward Kramaric and planned to send him straight to Vitesse Arnhem on loan until the end of the season.

The Dutch club were also preparing for the arrival of Kramaric before the weekend, but it now seems the 23-year-old has instead decided he wants to play immediate Premier League football at bottom-of-the-table Leicester.

Kramaric had been willing to join Chelsea and go on loan to Leicester, but Premier League rules prevent a club signing a player and loaning him straight out to another Premier League club in the same transfer window.

That meant Kramaric effectively had to decide between finishing the season overseas and immediately testing himself in England’s top division.

The transfer of Kramaric has been a complicated process with a host of different people involved and confusion over whether or not he would need a work permit, but Leicester were due to put the player through a medical before attempting to sign-off the deal.

Kramaric has scored 28 goals in all competitions for HNK Rijeka this season and has already played senior international football for Croatia, scoring two goals in four appearances.

Leicester have also secured the signing of Chelsea’s third-choice goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.