Chelsea are keen to add another striker to their ranks this summer with Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez a target, according to reports.
The Blues have already wrapped up a €60m deal for Christopher Nkunku from RB Leipzig, while another forward, Nicolas Jackson, has now completed a medical ahead of a €35m move from Villarreal.
Romelu Lukaku is likely to leave Chelsea this summer, after spending last season on loan at Inter Milan, and that could see the Blues pursue another striker.
Inter Milan’s Martinez has now emerged as a serious target with Spanish publication Fichajes claiming Chelsea are preparing ‘a bomb transfer’ of £60m for the Argentina international.
New Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has ‘expressed his desire’ to sign Martinez this summer and the Blues consider him ‘the best option’ available at centre-forward.
CBS Sports journalist Ben Jacobs insists that Inter adamant Martinez “is not for sale” but their financial situation could change their mind if they receive an offer they can’t refuse.
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Jacobs told GiveMeSport: “There are a lot of moving parts at Chelsea that Pochettino is going to have to establish, but it is true that Chelsea want a traditional goalscorer.
“They’ve looked at Lautaro Martinez as well. The Inter perspective is that the player is not for sale, it’s as simple as that.
“But the industry perspective is that Inter are going to have to sell, and significantly, because of their financial situation. It’s all very well Inter saying nobody, where there’s serious interest, is for sale.”
Former Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips thinks Pochettino could give Lukaku a chance to play alongside Nkunku next season.
“Last season, [having no striker] was their biggest crime,” Wright-Phillips told The Metro.
“Yes, they were losing matches and conceding goals, but it wasn’t that they weren’t making chances, it was that they weren’t scoring them. They need someone to put the ball in the back of the net and Rom is a striker.
“They’re never going to recoup what they paid for him and I don’t think he has any other options so I imagine he’ll be back. Poch could get something out of him, maybe with Christopher Nkunku playing behind him.”
On the trimming of the squad, Wright-Phillips added: “For me, it’s needed.
“They were up to 43 first-team players with all their loan players back. The only way to start offloading them is to do exactly what they’re doing.
“I’m not saying they are all the right ones to leave, or the wrong ones, but Poch has to start somewhere and so does the club and they’re putting themselves back on the right track this way.”
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