CHELSEA FINALISE THE SIGNING OF SPORTING LISBON STRIKER

Despite the large sums of money that the Blues have spent in the transfer market in recent windows, they still lack offensive firepower. Nicolas Jackson is currently with Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations, Christopher Nkunku is sidelined with a hip injury, and Armando Broja may be on the verge of a move due to interest from Premier League rivals Aston Villa, West Ham, Fulham, and Wolves.

Numerous strikers have been linked to Chelsea during the current transfer window, but an expensive deal seems unlikely at this point without additional player sales as the team looks to ensure that they abide by premier league financial regulations.

Ivan Toney of Brentford and Victor Osimhen of Napoli, for example, do not appear to be reachable in that sense until the summer, and it appears that Gyokeres will also likely be out of reach for the time being.

The former Coventry forward, who has flourished since leaving the Championship for Portugal’s Primeira Liga last summer in a deal estimated to be worth £20 million, is another name often associated with Chelsea, along with players like RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko, Brighton’s Evan Ferguson, Stuttgart’s Serhou Guirassy, Feyenoord’s Santiago Gimenez, and Stuttgart’s Evan Ferguson.

In just 25 games for Sporting in all competitions, Gyokeres has already led to talk about a potential quick transfer with 22 goals and 10 assists.

Sporting manager Ruben Amorim maintains that Chelsea’s €85 million (£72.8 million) proposal for the Swedish international is just insufficient, as the Lisbon giants are demanding a whopping €100 million (£85.7 million) for their star striker.

“I don’t know, I didn’t even ask [director of football Hugo] Viana,” Amorim said this week when quizzed on that rumoured Blues offer.

“Obviously, I was informed of the news. As soon as they said it was €85m, I thought: ‘that’s not enough’. It’s only €100m. I’m not worried.”