Arsenal

Mourinho Makes Contact With Arsenal & Liverpool Target Ahead Of £15.5m Bid

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has made contact with Arsenal and Liverpool target Jose Callejon as Chelsea prepare to table a £15.5m bid for the Napoli attacker

by
Fraser Crawford
July 27, 2015

With the summer transfer window in full swing, managers are working hard trying to strengthen their squads ahead of next season so we’ll bring you all the news and gossip. Today, Chelsea step-up their interest in Jose Callejon….

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has made contact with Arsenal and Liverpool target Jose Callejon as Chelsea prepare to table a £15.5m bid for the Napoli attacker, according to the Express.

Callejon is a youth product of the Real Madrid academy and scored 20 goals in 77 appearances for the first team before being sold to Napoli in the summer of 2013.

The Spanish international has enjoyed a solid two seasons in Italy having scored 32 goals in 102 games but his future has been cast in doubt this summer following the exit of Rafa Benitez and he’s been strongly linked with a move to the Premier League.

The Express reported earlier this month that Arsenal were lining-up an offer for the 28-year-old attacker while the same paper stated last week that Chelsea and Liverpool were also showing a keen interest in signing the player this summer.

However, it looks as though the Blues have now emerged as strong favourites for his signature as the Express are now citing a report from the Telegraph which claims that Chelsea are ready to submit a £15.5m offer after Mourinho made contact with Callejon’s camp to discuss a potential move to Stamford Bridge.

With Mohamed Salah expected to leave and Juan Cuadrado’s future also in doubt, the Premier League champions are likely to need at least one new attacker this summer and Callejon would be a useful addition as he’s capable of playing anywhere across the front three positions.

Mourinho knows the player well from their time together in Spain and it was actually the Portuguese coach who re-signed him in 2011 after Callejon had spent three years at Espanyol, so we know he’s a fan of the player.

I personally don’t think the Spaniard is a ‘top class’ attacker and I don’t think he’d be a first team regular at any of the English trio who are reported keen, but he would be a solid signing and decent value at around £15m, so it’s probably a risk worth taking this summer.

We’ll have to wait and see how Napoli react if Chelsea do table a formal offer and there’s still time for the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool to try and hijack their proposed deal, but as it stands it looks like the Blues are in pole position for Callejon’s signature.