Mourinho Draws Up Impressive 3-Man Striker Shot-List After Being Handed £40m Kitty

The January transfer window may have slammed shut but clubs will still be working hard behind the scenes at identifying targets for the summer, so we’ll bring you all the latest news, gossip and rumours. Today, Jose Mourinho has been given £40m to spend on a striker this summer.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has drawn up a tree-man short-list consisting of Diego Costa, Edinson Cavani and Mario Mandzukic after being given the green light to spend up to £40m on a world class front man this summer, according to reports today.

The Blues were linked with a number of strikers throughout the January transfer window but Mourinho indicated last week that he resisted the chance to add to his attacking options this winter as he was waiting to ‘get what he wants’ in the summer.

It seems what he’s looking for is a genuine world class striker who can propel Chelsea to be a dominant force both in the Premier League and in the Champions League, and the Metro claim that the Portuguese coach has his eye on Atletico Madrid’s Diego Costa, Bayern Munich’s Mario Mandzukic and PSG’s Edinson Cavani.

The newspaper suggests that owner Roman Abramovich has authorised spending up to £40m on a new front-man at the end of the season and Mourinho has looked to Europe to find a suitable player after giving up on signing Wayne Rooney, with the 28-year-old set to sign a new deal at Manchester United.

While the west Londoners now sit joint-second in the Premier League table after Monday night’s 1-0 win at Manchester City, they have had to battle on this season without a regular goal threat coming from any of their existing trio of strikers.

Fernando Torres, Samuel Eto’o and Demba Ba have all done well in patches but aren’t finding the back of the net on a consistent basis and many feel all this Chelsea team lacks is a world class striker to be the finished article.

Costa is understood to be Chelsea’s main target and is available for just £32m due to a release clause in the Spanish forward’s contract – which would represent something of a bargain for a player of his quality – but there is sure to be intense competition for his signature.

Cavani is believed to already be unsettled at PSG after only joining the club in the summer, but reports suggest the Ligue 1 outfit would want at least the £53m they splashed out when buying him from Napoli, which would stretch beyond the £40m Abramovich has set aside.

Mandzukic looks to be on the way out of Bayern Munich after falling out-of-favour under Pep Guardiola and will likely leave once Robert Lewandowski completes his move to the Allianz Arena at the end of the season and a switch to England has been touted as a possibility.

Any of the three strikers understood to be on Mourinho’s radar would make them a stronger unit and Chelsea will be a formidable outfit if they could land one of them this summer.

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Which striker would you like Chelsea to buy this summer? Leave your suggestions below.