Chelsea are reportedly lining up bids for Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez and Everton striker Romelu Lukaku as Antonio Conte has big plans moving forward.
The Blues look on course to reclaim the Premier League title this season, but with a return to the Champions League to consider next year, Conte will need to bolster his squad to add quality and depth.
According to The Telegraph, he’ll look to their direct rivals to strengthen, with both Sanchez and Lukaku linked with a move to Stamford Bridge this summer as the Italian tactician is said to have cooled his interest in Real Madrid ace Alvaro Morata.
It’s added that Conte met with Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia this week to discuss summer transfer plans, and both Sanchez and Lukaku featured high on the list.
The Arsenal man has just over 12 months remaining on his contract and so there are question marks hanging over his future. As per The Sun, the Chilean international could be available for around £35m this summer with various other clubs around Europe also keen on signing him.
Meanwhile, Lukaku has stalled on signing a new contract too, and that has led to uncertainty over whether or not he intends on staying at Goodison Park beyond this season.
The 23-year-old is enjoying the most prolific season of his career to date having scored 22 goals in 30 outings in all competitions, but it appears as though his ambitions of playing in Europe could see him decide to leave the Toffees sooner rather than later.
As noted by the Evening Standard last month, it was suggested that it would take a bid of around £65m to prise him away from Everton, but time will tell if Chelsea have the budget to spend big on both of these players to either replace Diego Costa or alleviate some of the pressure on his shoulders to score.
That’s around £100m in total on the two players, but given their likely impact and form this season for direct rivals, it could make a lot of sense for Chelsea if they could somehow pull off the double swoop.