Chelsea have confirmed the sale of Mario Pasalic to Atalanta after the Serie A club officially activated their option to purchase of the midfielder for £13.5million.

The Croatia international had been in Bergamo on loan since July 2018 at a cost of €2.5m, so the full cost of the operation is €17.5m.

The 25-year-old has been a regular in the side throughout the campaign, netting seven goals and seven assists in 33 competitive games this season.

Atalanta have been one of the teams of the season throughout Europe, and they have exercised the buy option in the loan, with the Blues set to receive £13.5million for the transfer.

“Mario Pasalic stays with us! Our #88 is an Atalanta player on a permanent basis!” read a tweet from the Atalanta website.

He was purchased by Chelsea from Hajduk Split in 2014 for €2.5m, but then went on a series of loan spells with Elche, Monaco, Milan, Spartak Moscow and now Atalanta.

Frank Lampard ordered Christian Pulisic to win the game for Chelsea when he put him on the pitch against Aston Villa.

The United States international came into the match in the 55th minute and equalized for the Blues to turn the match in favour of the visitors.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Pulisic said: “I’m really glad I could help the team. Obviously today that was with the goal and a good result.

“I was just told to go in and win us the game really, nothing special.

“Just needed to go on and use my talents.”

And he did exactly as he scored the equaliser before Olivier Giroud bagged the winner.

There are reports Chelsea target Miralem Pjanic will be dropped when Juventus face Bologna tomorrow, following a tense stand-off with Maurizio Sarri in training.

According to La Stampa newspaper, there was a clash behind the scenes between the midfielder and his coach.

There had already been reports the Bosnian would be shelved in favour of Rodrigo Bentancur for the Coppa Italia Final against Napoli, but that plan seemingly was ruined by Sami Khedira’s injury.

Now the situation has deteriorated and Pjanic, who is heavily linked with a move to Chelsea and Barcelona, is likely to be dropped against Bologna tomorrow evening.

Football Italia report that Sarri is under increasing pressure to deliver the Scudetto and a long Champions League run after losing both the Supercoppa and Coppa Italia Finals.

Cristiano Ronaldo is also said to be frustrated at the situation, unhappy with being used as an occasional centre-forward in the absence of injured Gonzalo Higuain.