Chelsea are pushing on with their plans to sign a new striker and have reportedly made contact with Sporting Lisbon over a deal for Viktor Gyokeres.
The Swede has hit an impressive 17 goals in just 20 games in Portugal. That form has caught the attention of Premier League clubs, where Arsenal are thought to be keen.
Sporting boss Ruben Amorim has so far said Gyokeres will only go if an £86m release clause is met.
However, he might not be so sure now, with Chelsea apparently touching base.
According to The Evening Standard, the Blues have approached Sporting with the intention of landing two of their players.
The first is defender Ousmane Diomande. However, Gyokeres is also a target for the Blues and there’s also been an enquiry over him as well.
Chelsea have been looking for a new striker ever since the summer. They did sign Jackson Martinez but so far, he has failed to live up to being the goal scorer Mauricio Pochettino wants, albeit, he has hit seven PL goals.
Chelsea have never quite replaced Didier Drogba at the top of the pitch, with expensive signing Romelu Lukaku being an expensive flop
If it’s right and Sporting will only accept the £86m release clause, then this is a big risk for Chelsea, especially in January.
For how well Gyokeres is doing, we’ve all seen the Premier League is a different animal. Darwin Nunez is a fine example of coming from Portugal as a goal machine and not quite replicating in England.
With Gyokeres, it might be that he needs another season or two to really bed in and prove his worth.
On the flip side, Chelsea might feel they’ll miss out on a top striker if they dilly around too long and with that, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them move here.