Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho’s search for a top-quality striker continues as the Portuguese is now believed to be lining up a shock move for Aston Villa’s highly promising Belgian striker Christian Benteke.
The Blues have been linked with several top strikers such as Edinson Cavani, Wayne Rooney, Robert Lewandowski and Luis Suarez this summer. However, Mourinho is finding it hard to force through a suitable negotiation for any of them.
According to Duncan Castles, writing for Goal.com, the Londoners are preparing a bid for the 22-year-old and are hopeful of getting him at a reasonable price.
Despite not being as talented as the aforementioned strikers, Benteke boasts a skill set of his own, an unique charisma that does the talking for the mercurial Belgian.
Having scored 19 goals in his debut season last campaign, the towering Villa forward almost singlehandedly carried the Villans to the safe zone of Premier League.
Villa are desperate to keep hold of their star performer, who has also drawn the attentions of cross-town rivals Tottenham, as manager Paul Lambert wants to build the squad around the physically imposing striker.
Goal.com also states that the Chelsea boss remain a keen admirer of the Bayern Munich striker Mario Gomez. The prolific German scorer has lost out his starting berth to Mario Mandzukic during their treble-winning campaign last season and is willing to make a switch abroad in the summer.
Meanwhile, the Blues are still keen to land the Portuguese boy-wonder Bruma, from Sporting Lisbon, who is dubbed as the “new Cristiano Ronaldo” according to Portuguese newspaper A Bola.
The newspaper claimed last week that Chelsea had lodged a formal bid for the 18-year-old and would be willing to send him back to Portugal for a season long loan should they manage to secure his services permanently this season.
Mourinho is a keen admirer of his talent and even recommended him to Real Madrid before his departure from the Capital club. Though the player’s representatives deny reports of a bid, it is understood that Chelsea are still interested in signing him.
And finally, young Chelsea full back Patrick van Aanholt will once again ply his trade at the Eredivisie with Vitesse Arnhem, after another season-long loan deal was struck between both the clubs earlier today.
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