Gonzalo Higuain reveals why he wanted to join Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea

The Blues confirmed that the Argentinian striker has joined Maurizio Sarri’s side on loan from AC Milan until the end of the season on Wednesday evening

In his first words as a Chelsea player, Gonzalo Higuain said that he had to take the opportunity to Blues because they are a club with “a lot of history and a wonderful stadium”.

Chelsea confirmed the Argentinian striker would fulfil a lifelong dream of playing in the Premier League on Wednesday afternoon, when the 31-year-old’s loan move from AC Milan was finally confirmed.

“When the opportunity to join Chelsea presented itself I had to take it,” Higuain said. “It’s a team I’ve always liked that has a lot of history, a wonderful stadium and they play in the Premier League, a league I’ve always wanted to play in.

“I now hope I can give back that trust Chelsea have shown me out on the pitch. I can’t wait to start and I hope to adapt as soon as possible.”

Maurizio Sarri had long made clear his hopes that he would be reunited with Higuain, who scored 36 goals in 35 games under the Italian at Napoli, before joining Juventus in 2016.

Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia said: “Gonzalo was our number one target in this transfer window and arrives with a proven record at the highest level. He has previously worked with Maurizio to great effect and is familiar with how the coach likes to play.

“This was not an easy deal for us to do because of the numerous parties involved, but we are delighted we were able to make it happen and we look forward to seeing the impact Gonzalo will make for us in the second half of the season.”

The move was long thought to have been agreed, but was dependent on Milan finding an immediate replacement, with the club confirming that Krzysztof Piątek would join from Genoa for a fee around £30m earlier in the afternoon.

Sarri has though ruled out the possibility of Chelsea’s new No 9 making his debut in the second leg of the club’s Carabao Cup final on Thursday as impossible.