The MAIN reason Chelsea want to sign Vlahovic revealed
Cameron Smith
- 1 Aug 2023 07:39 BST
- 3 min read
Chelsea are in talks with Juventus over a player-plus-cash swap deal involving Romelu Lukaku and Dusan Vlahovic, but the Blues have been forced to pursue the Serbian, according to Italian media.
Di Marzio has reported that Chelsea understand the only way to offload Lukaku to Turin is to include Vlahovic in the deal and given their desperation to sell the Belgian, they are reportedly willing to agree to the proposal.
Chelsea had previously dismissed Vlahovic as a potential signing earlier this window and had turned their attention to other targets - most notably Moises Caicedo - but appear to have returned to the Serbian international as they look to sell Lukaku.
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Lukaku, 30, was not included in Chelsea’s pre-season tour of the United States of America and has been training with other unwanted members of the Blues first-team squad at their Cobham training base.
He is expected to leave this summer but has already ended his chance of re-joining Inter, by negotiating with Juve, and he reportedly does not want to move to the Saudi Pro League, despite being offered the chance to join the division.
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Pochettino wants another striker
Despite the pre-season form of both Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku, who may play slightly deeper, and the presence of Armando Broja, who is still recovering from his ACL injury, Mauricio Pochettino revealed he is open to signing another striker.
He told reporters in the US: “Today I think we are happy with the performance and they [Nkunku and Jackson] can complement each other really well.
“Yes, of course, maybe we can add some different profiles or different players who can help us, of course we are open. I am so happy with both and we have younger players like Mason Burstow today and Armando Broja in the UK recovering from his procedure.
“We need to analyse now in the next weeks until the transfer window closes. We will take the best decision for the team.”
Vlahovic is still only 23 years old and despite a relatively poor campaign last year, he still notched 14 goals in all competitions.
However, if Chelsea want the swap deal to go through, they will have to pay an additional €30-35m on top of giving Juventus Lukaku due to the age difference between the players, according to Di Marzio.
