Chelsea are poised to rubber-stamp a £7.2million loan deal for Radamel Falcao.
The champions will have an option to keep the 29-year-old striker at Stamford Bridge for another £35million if he proves a hit next season.
The move means Falcao will be reunited with his former Atletico Madrid team-mate Diego Costa.
It has also, however, plunged the future of current Chelsea no.2 Loic Remy, 28, into doubt.
Mirror Sport exclusively revealed last week that Swansea and Crystal Palace are leading the chase for the £80,000-a-week Frenchman. West Ham are also monitoring developments.
Jose Mourinho has already vowed to help Falcao to recover the form that made him one of the most feared strikers in world football at Porto and Atletico Madrid.
The Colombia marksman, currently at the Copa America, hit just four goals in 26 League appearances last season.
He has yet to rediscover anything like his best form since undergoing a cruciate ligament operation in January last year and had endured a torrid 18 months.
Last week Mourinho told South American TV: “If I can help Falcao reach his level again, I will do it.
“It hurts me that people in England think that the real Falcao is the one we saw at Manchester United.”
Falcao, who shares super-agent Jorge Mendes with Mourinho, has so far cut a forlorn figure at the Copa America.
He appeared to suggest in a news conference last weekend, however, that Louis van Gaal had not used him correctly at United.
He said: “Once a coach said that my habitat was in the area, and this season it was not like that. Very few people who know football know this difference.
“I am relaxed and hope to return to my natural habitat, and then things will start happening again.”