Chelsea have made initial contact with Sporting Lisbon over potential January moves for Viktor Gyokeres and Ousmane Diomande, according to the Evening Standard.
Despite their huge spending spree over the last three transfer windows, Chelsea are still looking to reinforce their squad even further and will target a new striker and defender.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side have identified Gyokeres and Diomande as major targets in either of the aforementioned positions but Sporting are reportedly unwilling to do business except the release clauses of both players are met.
Since joining from Coventry City, Gyokeres has made a fine start to life at the Jose Alvalade Stadium with 10 league goals to his name in 13 matches so far, including the opener in Monday’s 2-0 win over Porto which sent Sporting top of the Primeira Liga table.
His release clause currently stands at a whopping €100 million and it is highly unlikely that Chelsea will be willing to fork out that much on a single signing in January, meaning that the Blues may be forced to turn to alternative targets.
Victor Osimhen remains a strong candidate but with the Nigerian closing in on a contract extension with Napoli, any move away will likely have to wait till the summer.
Brentford’s Ivan Toney has also been linked with a move to Stamford Bridge as he nears his return to competitive action from an eight-month ban but Arsenal currently appear to be leading the race for the Englishman.
While Diomande’s buy-out clause stands at €80m, the fee once again represents a major stumbling block for Chelsea, who could have to sell first before buying as they look to balance the books.
Conor Gallagher, Noni Madueke, Trevoh Chalobah and Ian Maatsen are all facing uncertain futures at Stamford Bridge heading into the upcoming winter window which kicks off in 10 days.
