According to news outlet AS, Premier League champions Chelsea have already made a £55m (€63m) bid for Real Madrid’s top target Mauro Icardi. The Blues have struggled to replace regular goalscorer Diego Costa, guided them to the Premier League title last season. It must be good news for the Chelsea faithful who are in dire need of a new striker at Stamford Bridge. Their new signings have not fired and Chelsea could miss out on a Champions League spot next season if that continues. The Blues are currently in fifth place and have only the FA Cup to play for any silverware this term after a rather disappointing campaign in the Champions League and Premier League.
When club record signing Alvaro Morata arrived at Chelsea in the summer, he got off to a great start but is now lacking any form after going 12 games without scoring a goal. This goal drought comes due to a shortage of confidence as well as a few injury problems. Either way, Chelsea was forced to use talisman Eden hazard in the centre-forward role with the Belgian being majorly ineffective despite his best efforts.
Chelsea also brought in Olivier Giroud from Arsenal in order to add some extra firepower in Conte’s attacking department, but the Frenchman has not been able to hit the ground running and has scored just once ever since making the switch from North to East London. This has prompted the Chelsea board to take that position a bit more seriously because of the lack of goals scored and the club has identified Inter Milan’s Mauro Icardi as the prime target in the summer transfer window.
And Chelsea was eager to secure the Argentine’s services has already made a massive bid to the Serie A side in the hope of confirming a deal before the summer transfer window. Icardi has become one of the most prolific goalscorers in the Italian league since his move from Sampdoria to Inter back in 2013 for a fee of just €6.5m.
Icardi has scored 22 times already this season helping Inter to 4th place on the Serie A table, in the race to qualify for the Champions League. The 25-year-old centre-forward wants to play in the Champions League and Chelsea may have to do so in the first place if they will want to sign him. However, Icardi has stated that he is content at the San Siro and sees himself remaining with the Italian giants until he is 30 years old.
Real Madrid is also keen to sign a new forward after unimpressive displays from Karim Benzema and the European champions will provide stiff competition for Chelsea to sign Icardi. The Los Blancos are in the midst of preparing a huge amount of summer transfers with a proper striker on the list. Icardi can play as the main centre-forward or as a second striker but it’s unlikely that Inter would want to let go of him anytime soon. Chelsea are now out of the Champions League and in the Semifinal of FA Cup.
