Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has decided he has no room in his squad for Romelu Lukaku and Hakim Ziyech this summer as the Blues look to continue to ring the changes in attack.
CaughtOffside understands that Chelsea remain in talks over a possible move to sign Montpellier youngster Elye Wahi up front, but he would likely go out on loan straight away, meaning other attacking players who could come in to Pochettino’s squad right away are also being considered.
Dusan Vlahovic is one candidate to strengthen Chelsea’s attack, and there could be an opening there as Lukaku is of interest to Juventus, though for the moment there hasn’t been much movement due to Chelsea being unwilling to pay Juve’s €80m asking price for Vlahovic.
Lukaku is now seen as being increasingly likely to stay in Europe, as has always been his preference, with Al Hilal now switching their focus elsewhere as they try close in on Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Al Hilal had shown the strongest interest in Lukaku from Saudi Arabia, but Mitrovic now looks like being their alternative, so it will be interesting to see if the Belgium international now ends up at Juventus or somewhere else in Europe.
Another Chelsea player who no longer necessarily looks set to move to Saudi is Ziyech, who is not in Pochettino’s plans and who is now a target for Napoli.
Ziyech was not happy with how his move to Al Nassr fell through, and Napoli are now leading the race for his signature, while Paris Saint-Germain are also understood to be keeping the Morocco international in mind as a Plan B option.
To replace Ziyech, Chelsea have had initial contacts over signing Mohammed Kudus from Ajax, and Rayan Cherki from Lyon.
Chelsea first asked Ajax about Kudus back in June, but things have not advanced significantly since then, with other clubs also likely to be in the race for the Ghana international.