Alves "signs for Chelsea"

Trustworthy news agency EFE heads a group of sources that claim Blues chief executive Peter Kenyon concluded the deal with the Liga club in a Madrid hotel.

In addition, the transfer is thought to pave the way for Chelsea and Netherlands winger Arjen Robben to shortly complete his long-expected move to Spanish champions Real Madrid.

Speculation was rife that Alves would move to Stamford Bridge after Sevilla left him out of their Champions League squad to face AEK Athens on Wednesday.

If the Brazil international had played in that match he would have been cup-tied from playing for another team in the competition. Indeed, Alves hinted before his exclusion that he might not play against AEK if it threatened his desired move away from the club.

"The decision to play or not on Wednesday is mine," he said. "And I don't have to think very hard about it because if I do, then a lot of doors will close for me.

"I want to grow as a player and if I have to do that at a new club then so be it."

Sevilla coach Juande Ramos said of the situation: "He told me he was not in the right condition to play and I have informed the club about the situation.

"I don't know if he has agreed this with someone else in the club because they are in talks, but we knew this might happen. I expected something like this.

"Daniel is an influential player and the fact that clubs of the stature of Chelsea and Real Madrid are after him shows how important he is."

Alves, who joined Sevilla from Bahia in 2003 for less than a million euros, signed a contract extension with the Andalusians last December linking him to the club until 2012.

He has been one of the club's outstanding players in recent seasons and was a key figure in their UEFA Cup triumphs in 2006 and 2007 and their victory in the Copa del Rey last June.

He was part of the Brazil side that won the Copa America in July and scored one of the goals in the 3-0 victory over Argentina in the final.