Chelsea join race for €55m-rated striker

Chelsea have made their first official approach to sign Napoli forward Edinson Cavani, according to Italian daily La Gazzetta dello Sport.

The story coincides with Rafael Benitez’s arrival at the Seria A club and suggests that one of the Spaniards first issues will be negotiating the potential departure of Cavani, who they say is wanted by Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge.

Napoli would prefer not to part with their prized asset but have been in negotiations with Manchester City and a part-exchange deal for Edin Dzeko has been mooted, but Chelsea are now in the loop after registering their interested and there wouldn’t be a whole lot Napoli could do if they decide to trigger the Uruguayan’s buyout clause, which is reported to be €55 million.

CNN’s Italian correspondent, Tancredi Palmeri, who had been following Napoli’s Benitez pursuit closely, posted via his Twitter account:

If this is true then it would confirm the theory that Chelsea will likely spend a vast amount of their summer budget on a forward and Cavani is the one they’re committing to as Robert Lewandowski has his heart set on Bayern Munich, Radamel Falcao is off to AS Monaco and players like Mario Gomez and Wayne Rooney would represent backup options.

I’m not a regular viewer of Seria A myself so have mostly seen Cavani play either internationals or in European competition but it’s not hard to understand why someone like Mourinho would be interested in a forward like him as he’s scored 104 goals in 138 games for Napoli, if the 26-year-old could replicate that sort of goal ratio in the Premier League then he’d definitely be a worthy addition at Stamford Bridge and would significantly boost Chelsea’s title credentials.

There would be a few other situations that would arise should we sign Cavani, what would happen to Fernando Torres and Demba Ba? It’s doubtful that players on £170k and £90k a week respectively will sit around on the sidelines. There’s also the future of Romelu Lukaku to consider as it looks as though he will be sent out on loan again, which would be the best thing for him if he isn’t going to get the regular football he needs at Chelsea next season.

For now it looks as though Chelsea are very much in the race to sign Cavani along with Manchester City and Real Madrid, it’s one to keep an eye on.

Source: Gazzetta dello Sport and @tancredipalmeri