Chelsea Transfer News: Latest on Alvaro Morata and Radja Nainggolan

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Chelsea probably would be looking to sign another striker in the summer. The Blues have already signed Belgium’s highly rated 22-year-old striker Michy Batshuayi and there could be more arrivals at the Bridge.

Diego Costa, the club’s first choice striker, has been repeatedly linked with a move back to Spain. His former club Atletico Madrid are keen to re-sign him, while there are suggestions (Costa never said anything directly) that Costa would welcome the opportunity to work with Diego Simeone again.

If Costa leaves, Chelsea would be looking to replace him with a marquee signing. Two names have popped up in the media: Gonzalo Higuain and Alvaro Morata.

Higuain doesn’t want to continue at Napoli but he has a contract till 2018. He could be an attractive signing but his €90-94m price tag is something Chelsea would refuse to meet.

Morata could be another good option for Chelsea. Madrid have re-signed their former striker from Juventus this summer, but they hardly have any attention to give him regular game time at Bernabeu. Rather, they would sell him to the highest bidder in the market. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is reportedly interested in signing Morata, but will the Gunners meet his €75m asking price set by Madrid? Highly unlikely.

Spanish newspaper Marca believe Chelsea are the only Premier League side who are genuinely interested in signing Morata. In case the deal goes through, Morata would represent the ‘most expensive transfer’ in Chelsea’s history, as also in La Liga’s history as well.

Till date, Chelsea’s €58m signing of Fernando Torres from Liverpool is the club’s record transfer, and Morata’s probable signing can eclipse that record. Marca does believe that Chelsea won’t be paying €75m but it would definitely be more than €58m, which would still make it as the club’s record transfer.

Moving to other news, Chelsea are seemingly out of the race to sign Roma’s Radja Nainggolan. The Belgium midfielder flirted with Chelsea for a while, but it seems he will stay put at Roma.

When asked by several journalists to comment on his future, he said: “The meeting with Walter Sabatini went well . Will I stay at Roma ? Yes.” As it stands, he could be signing a lucrative contract with the Giallorossi very soon.

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