Stamford Bridge side set sights on Villa Park and Anfield hot-shots.
Returning Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has been linked with his fair share of summer signings and has already brought in youngsters Andre Schurrle and Marco van Ginkel to both strengthen his Blues squad and in doing so has continued to adhere to the Stamford Bridge side’s youthful transfer policy.
Today the Portuguese manager has been strongly linked with moves to bring a pair of Premier League hot-shots, both of whom had excellent seasons in front of goal in 2012/13.
The Telegraph claims that Chelsea are ready to make a move for Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke, who last night had reportedly put in a transfer request, less than a year after moving to Villa Park.
The 22 year old had an excellent first term in the English top tier, netting 23 goals in all competitions and in effect helped keep Paul Lambert’s side from relegation to the Championship. Now the former Racing Genk man appears to want a high-profile move but Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner will demand a fee of at least £25m, three times what the club paid for the powerful striker last August, and though some may baulk at such a price-tag it’s likely to not be a valuation that will scare off billionaire owner Roman Abramovich.
Benteke would presumably jump at the chance of a move to join Chelsea and the reigning Europa League champions can not only offer the Aston Villa man Champions League football but more than likely can also offer the forward a huge increase on his current £20k a week deal.
Factor in the presence of a number of fellow members of Benteke’s Belgian national team; Eden Hazard, Kevin de Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku to name just three, and it seems entirely plausible that Chelsea could be the Aston Villa man’s next destination.
The Daily Mirror believe that Benteke is not the only English top tier striker Mourinho has his sights set on, claiming that Chelsea will look to offer £40m for want-away Liverpool ace Luis Suarez.
Thus far Liverpool have steadfastly stated that they would not listen to offers for Uruguayan international Suarez but with the player’s agent continuing to state that his client wants out and with pre-season getting under way boss Brendan Rodgers may well feel that his side needs to consider the situation carefully.
Clearly the Merseyside club wouldn’t voluntarily look to sell their most effective attacking weapon, Suarez scoring 30 goals in all competitions last term, but Rodgers will not want a disruptive influence in his dressing room and given that Liverpool have signed La Liga strikers Luis Alberto and Iago Aspas from Sevilla and Celta Vigo respectively, perhaps the Northern Irish boss has already been planning for the possibility of a sale.
This source claims that Liverpool would listen to offers but only those of £40m and above and also states that Chelsea are willing and able to make such a bid, so there is every chance that the Anfield side will consider the possibility of selling to a Premier League rival, having already turned down an advance from Arsenal.
Mourinho seems convinced that his Chelsea side needs a fresh attacking spearhead and having seen both Fernando Torres and Demba Ba struggling to make an impact last season one can easily see why the club’s attack is seen by the former Real Madrid boss as the area in most need of summer investment.