Chelsea hope to agree the terms of David Luiz's transfer from Benfica later today with their application for a work permit for the Brazil international to be heard on Wednesday.

Talks are on-going with the Portuguese club's chairman, Luís Filipe Vieira, with agreement close on a move that is expected to cost the Premier League champions around £21.5m, their biggest outlay on a player since Andriy Shevchenko's £30m arrival from Milan five years ago.

Luiz, who was omitted from the Benfica side that beat Nacional 4-2 on Saturday night, will travel to London for a medical and, all being well, could be confirmed as a Chelsea player tomorrow subject to the work permit being granted.

Discussions have centred on the possibility of Benfica taking a youngster on loan as a makeweight in the deal. The Londoners' Dutch duo Jeffrey Bruma and Patrick van Aanholt have both been mentioned, as has the Serb defender Slobodan Rajkovic, who is currently on loan at Vitesse Arnhem.

Fulham attempted to sign the latter last summer only to be frustrated when he was denied a work permit, prompting Chelsea to loan him to the Dutch club along with his compatriot Nemanja Matic.