Chelsea reportedly held further talks over signing Gonzalo Higuain on Thursday night, but it’s suggested crucial factors could jeopardise any potential swoop.
As noted by Calciomercato, via Sportitalia, it’s suggested that Higuain’s agent held talks with Chelsea officials as the Blues seemingly step up their pursuit of the Argentine international.
SEE MORE: Chelsea transfer news: £100m-rated target provides key update on contract renewal with Euro giants
Given his side have managed to score just 38 goals in 21 Premier League games so far this season, giving them the lowest scoring tally of the top six sides, Maurizio Sarri is certainly in need of bolstering his attacking options.
Higuain is a player he knows well having coached him at Napoli, with the 31-year-old enjoying the most prolific campaign of his career to date under his stewardship in 2015/16 as he bagged an impressive 38 goals in just 42 outings.
While question marks could be raised over his form so far this season as he’s managed just eight goals in 20 appearances for Milan, he remains one of the most talented marksmen in Europe and has now scored 290 goals in a glittering career thus far.
Coupled with Chelsea’s scoring problems, it seems like a sensible idea to target him, but La Gazzetta dello Sport note that there are two key factors which could scupper any potential move to Stamford Bridge.
The first of which is that parent club Juventus will not allow a deal to happen without an agreement that Chelsea will pay €36m in the summer to sign Higuain outright, a similar deal to the one which is currently in place for Milan, as noted by Sky Sports.
Perhaps the more prominent issue though is that it’s added in the report that Milan have no intention of ending their loan agreement for the clinical forward, and so if they intend to keep him at the San Siro until the end of the season, that surely leaves Chelsea with no other option but to consider alternative targets to bolster Sarri’s attack.
Time will tell if the situation changes dramatically over the course of this month, but La Gazzetta dello Sport add that Higuain is expected to feature in Milan’s next two games against Genoa and Juventus in the Coppa Italia and Super Cup respectively.
