According to David Ornstein of The Athletic, Chelsea have tabled a bid worth £27.4 million (€32.5million) for Atlético Madrid striker Samu Omorodion but will need to dig a little deeper if they want to get a deal agreed.
The Spanish U21-international, who is of Nigerian descent, has a release clause of £67.56 million (€80 million), which Atleti are insistent will have to be met for them to sell the centre-forward, a fee Chelsea have no intention of paying.
Striker is clearly an area new head coach Enzo Maresca is looking to strengthen, with Nicolas Jackson, Armando Broja and David Datro Fofana his current senior options. Jacob Steinberg in the Guardian claims they are eager to sell Broja to Everton, while Fofana’s future is also uncertain, following a loan spell at Burnley.
Already this summer, the Blues have attempted to sign Jhon Durán from Aston Villa, while Adam Leventhal writes in The Athletic they’d like to bring academy graduate Dominic Solanke back to Stamford Bridge, although his own release clause of £65 million means a move for the Bournemouth striker is unlikely to come to fruition.
Who is Samu Omorodion?
Samu Omorodion is a 20 year old striker who started his senior career at Granada, before joining Altético Madrid for a reported £5 million last summer.
On the opening day of last season, he scored as el Graná were beaten 3-1 at the Cívitas Metropolitano, but clearly caught the eye as los Colchoneros signed him a week later.
He then spent the rest of the season on loan at Deportivo Alavés, helping los Blanquiazules to a very respectable tenth placed finish in La Liga, scoring eight goals in 35 appearances, averaging a goal every 240 minutes.
This may not sound that impressive, but he was still, by some distance, Alavés’ highest-scorer, as Luis García Plaza’s side scored only 36 times across the entire campaign, the lowest of any side finishing 14th or above.
He has also scored twice in Under-21 European Championship qualifying for Spain so far, on target against Kazakhstan in Astana and Belgium in Leuven last autumn, likely to be a key player Santi Denia’s side at next summer’s tournament in Slovakia.
Omorodion’s arrival would be a continuation of Chelsea’s transfer strategy
Since Clearlake Capital have taken control over Chelsea, led by Todd Boehly, Behdad Eghbali and José E. Feliciano, they’ve obviously spent a lot of money in the transfer market, around £982 million to be exact, with their strategy, at least in theory, to buy young, up-and-coming players before anyone else knows about them.
Mykhailo Mudryk, Malo Gusto, Benoît Badiashile, Noni Madueke, Andrey Santos, Cesare Casadei, Carney Chukwuemeka, Gaga Słonina, Lesley Ugochukwu, Đorđe Petrović, Axel Disasi, Deivid Washington and countless others (we could go on!) certainly fit this profile, so the potential signing from Omorodion would suggest, despite delivering 12th and then sixth placed finishes to date, the ownership are sticking to their model.
