The latest SportsLens Chelsea transfer exclusive reveals that the club are keen on another Sporting Lisbon player and this time it’s young defender Ousmane Diomande. This could lead to a double swoop alongside forward Viktor Gyokeres.
Chelsea Keep Tabs On Ousmane Diomande
Chelsea plan to continue scouting missions at Sporting Lisbon this season – but it is Ousmane Diomande that will be their prime focus. Earlier this week Viktor Gyokeres was linked with a sensational switch to Stamford Bridge from the Portuguese club.
We explained in an earlier report how that deal was not opening up right now, and that the forward actually has plans to stay in Portugal instead. Yet Chelsea will continue to watch Gyokeres, because he will be involved while they step up the scouting around Diomande.
A new defender for the summer is on the agenda and this is one of their top targets. In fact, sources have told SportsLens that he is emerging as the top foreign target in terms of their profiling of defenders.
Their other main interest is within the Premier League around Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi and Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite, who they also believe will make transfers in the summer.
Diomande, 20, is currently at AFCON with Ivory Coast and while Chelsea scouts will take in his performances at the tournament, they are more interested in tracking his club form once he returns to Lisbon.
Blues Feel Diomande Deal Could Materialise Later This Year
One of the reasons it is believed Diomande is being set aside as a prime target is that there is a belief he will be within reach later this year.
He is understood to have a release clause of £69million but one complication that could arise is that another defender – Goncalo Inacio – is also being tracked by top clubs, including Liverpool, and they would not let both leave.
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