It seems that in every transfer window Chelsea are in the hunt for their next star forward but could Jackson Martinez be their man as the Portuguese press report?
A Bola claims that the Porto star’s agent, Henrique Pompeo, has been in London to discuss a move to Stamford Bridge with Chelsea’s Marina Granovskaia.
Martinez’s contract at Porto does not expire until 2016 and they’ll be keen to hold on to the player, so he won’t come cheap, and is valued at around £33 million.
The Colombian forward certainly boasts an impressive record with 44 goals in 58 matches for his current club but is cup-tied and it’s thought Jose Mourinho would much prefer to sign his international team-mate Radamel Falcao.
Falcao is undoubtedly one of the best finishers in the world at the moment and even before he made his switch to AS Monaco it was rumoured that the Ligue 1 club was merely a stepping stone in order to get him to Real Madrid, but Jorge Mendes, who also represents Mourinho, will be a key player in determining Falcao’s future.
As it stands Monaco are able to offer a tax-free salary to their players but this is currently being contested by the other clubs in the league in the interest of fairness whilst they’ll have to stump up some cash in order to satisfy UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules to satisfy their European ambitions, so may be forced to sell their prized asset for a lump sum.
It’s also thought that Falcao is not happy in the principality and his move there from Atletico Madrid raised a few eyebrows as it was not only a step down for the 27-year-old, but a move that many suspected had been orchestrated by his third party owners at the time. He may not be all that comfortable where he is but that hasn’t stopped him scoring as he has nine in 13 this season already.
He’s a top class forward and should be in a top class team. Falcao won’t solve all of Chelsea’s problems but there aren’t many, if any, better options available to them in terms of forwards. Martinez also provides a decent option for the Blues but in terms of quality there’s a clear winner in Falcao, who has proved he can score goals in three different European leagues already and should have come to Chelsea a few years ago.
