Chelsea ready to sign striker who has scored 11 goals in 18 league matches for €40 million - Reports
Mauricio Pochettino has urged Chelsea to set their sights on signing high-flying Girona's star marksman Artem Dovbyk for a fee of around €40 million.
Pochettino believes that Dovbyk would finally solve their long-standing striker woes and help them push for a higher finish in the Premier League, Spanish newspaper El Nacional reports.
Girona has been a pleasantly eye-opening revelation this season, capturing football fans' attention globally as they currently sit in 2nd place in La Liga, joint on points with leaders Real Madrid. It is an even more astounding result given the fact that they only got promoted back to the top-flight in 2022.
One of the main orchestrators of their success is Ukrainian striker Artem Dovbyk, who has 11 goals and six assists in 18 La Liga games so far. He is also an established national team footballer, having scored seven goals in 23 games for Ukraine.
Dovbyk was signed by Girona last summer for a club record fee of €7 million and has already proved that he belongs at the top-flight level of European football. He also won the La Liga Player of the Month award in December, having scored four goals in four games including a goal at the Camp Nou against Barcelona in a 4-2 victory.
Despite having signed another star La Liga striker in Nicolas Jackson just last summer after he impressed at Villarreal, Chelsea are already looking for an upgrade up top to maintain pace with Premier League rivals.
Jackson, who has only 10 goal contributions in 23 games for Chelsea, is now off on national duty representing Senegal at AFCON. He has just not proven to have the world-class quality required by Mauricio Pochettino, who now hopes Dovbyk will be the answer to his attacking problems.
Chelsea have opened talks over signing 16-year-old 'Little Messi' for £34 million
Chelsea have also entered negotiations with Palmeiras for the transfer of 16-year-old winger Estevao Willian. The Blues proposed to pay £17 million up front with another £17 million in add-ons; however, Palmeiras want them to trigger his £39 million release clause and pay the whole sum upfront.
Such a huge fee for a player who has only one senior appearance for Palmeiras might come as a shock to Chelsea fans. However, Estevao had already grabbed a lot of eyeballs after his stellar three goals and three assists in five appearances for Brazil in the Under-17 World Cup held last November.
His performances were so good that Brazilians have already called him 'Messinho' or 'Little Messi', which has had the entire world sit up and take note. At this point in time, Chelsea might be taking a flyer on a young talent with great potential, but if he truly fulfils it, they might have a gem on their hands.