Chelsea are on the hunt for a centre-forward this summer as Mauricio Pochettino is expected to move on most of his existing strikers due to their poor form, but they won’t pay over the odds for a replacement.
TuttoMercatoWeb say the Blues have Dusan Vlahovic on their radar as he’s expected to leave Juventus ahead of the new season, but Chelsea want to secure a deal at £50m – which is well below Juventus’ £77m asking price.
Chelsea sold Michy Batshuayi to Fenerbahce, sold Timo Werner to RB Leipzig and loaned out Romelu Lukaku to Inter Milan last season, so there is a void that needs to be filled in.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could be moved on after struggling for form last season. He might be followed out the exit door by Lukaku, as the 30-year-old also fell down the pecking order in 2022/23, resulting in his being loaned out.
After finishing in the bottom-half of the Premier League last season, Chelsea have worked tirelessly to shift all deadwood from the squad. Aubameyang and Lukaku’s lofty contracts aren’t being justified based on form, so the Blues would surely prefer to cash in quick.
Pochettino could be left with only new-boy Nicolas Jackson, Armando Broja and David Datro Fofana if the pair leave, so Vlahovic would go some way to upgrading the attack in their absence. The 23-year-old scored 23 goals with six assists from 63 games since joining Juve from Fiorentina last year. The Old Lady paid £66.6m for Vlahovic, but TMW say Chelsea don’t want to pay above £50m.
Vlahovic is being made available by Juventus after struggling for consistency in his second season. The Serbian international averaged one goal every three games in all competitions but ended the 2022/23 campaign with two league goals from 15 outings.
He struggled in Italy last season but would be an improvement on Chelsea’s current options. A deal may depend on whether Juve are willing to lower their asking price.
