Chelsea flop Facundo Buonanotte agrees move to Premier League club after just eight games

Leeds United have reached an agreement to sign Chelsea misfit Facundo Buonanotte on loan from Brighton for the rest of the season.

The Argentina international spent last season on loan at Leicester City and returned to his parent club in the summer, before moving to the Blues.

Chelsea paid a £2million loan fee in order to add the 21-year-old to their first team squad but the attacking midfielder has found opportunities hard to come by at Stamford Bridge.

Buonanotte did feature in Liam Rosenior’s first game at the helm, a 5-1 FA Cup third round win over Charlton last weekend, but that appearance will represent his final outing in a Chelsea shirt.

Overall the former Rosario star played just eight times for the Blues and featured just once in the Premier League, back in September.

With game time unlikely to be forthcoming under Rosenior, Buonanotte and Brighton cut short the agreement with Chelsea and the player will now spend the remainder of the campaign at Elland Road.

According to Fabrizio Romano, Buonanotte is set to undergo a medical imminently and could be in contention to make his debut against Fulham on Saturday.

Buonanotte was an unused substitute in last night’s 3-2 Carabao Cup semi final first leg defeat against Arsenal.

Rosenior did turn to his substitutes bench in order to help get his team back in the contest and his decision to introduce Alejandro Garnacho was vindicated with Buonanotte’s compatriot scoring twice to keep his team in the tie.

Chelsea looked down and out in the tie when Ben White headed home a corner after just seven minutes before Viktor Gyokeres ended his 10-match drought from open play to double the visitors’ advantage shortly after the interval.

Garnacho was introduced by Rosenior on 53 minutes and halved Chelsea’s deficit just four minutes later. Martin Zubimendi extended Arsenal’s lead back to two when he struck on 71 minutes.

But Garnacho netted from a corner with seven minutes left to ensure Chelsea remain in the contest ahead of the return leg at the Emirates Stadium on February 3.

And Rosenior, in just his second match in charge, said of his decision to introduce Garnacho: ‘I am lucky. A coach is only as good as his players.

‘I am never happy to lose a game of football but I saw an energy, a determination and an intensity. I want us to be known as a team that will never give up, that will run, that will fight and that will press. And I saw that today.

‘I am not asking for time because we are good enough to win now but I need to put my stamp on the team otherwise there is no point me being here. There is a fine balance, and hopefully the fans will see progression but we need to win at the same time, too.’

Rosenior said he expects Cole Palmer and Reece James, both absent on Wednesday, will be able to return from injury in Chelsea’s next match against Brentford on Saturday. He also revealed that Liam Delap and Jamie Gittens were forced to withdraw from the first leg with a virus.

Rosenior added: ‘Jamie Gittens was ill last night and Liam Delap was ill four hours before the game and could not play. We want to keep the ill players away from the group so it does not spread. Both of them had dangerously high temperatures. Hopefully they will be okay for Saturday.’