Champions League striker on Chelsea’s radar now wanted by Graham Potter and West Ham, they’ve just had £21m offer rejected

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West Ham are reportedly pushing hard in the final stages of the January transfer window to sign a striker recently linked with Chelsea.

Chelsea are quickly running out of time if they want to strengthen the Blues squad because the window shuts on 3 February.

Chelsea are not ruling out signing a new centre-forward before the deadline, so it’ll be interesting to see if a new frontman does arrive in the next few days. At the moment, they could do with an another striker to compete with an out of form Nicolas Jackson.

Fresh rumours this week suggest that West Ham, managed by Graham Potter, have made a transfer swoop to try sign a Blues target.

• READ MORE: Graham Potter has said no to helping Enzo Maresca and taking £39m Chelsea player on loan

West Ham fail with £21m bid for Chelsea target

Sky Sports claimed on Thursday that Premier League side West Ham submitted a bid worth around €25m (£21m) for PSV Eindhoven forward Ricardo Pepi. The proposal was for a loan with an obligation to buy.

However, the Dutch club have just rejected the offer for their 22-year-old striker.

This comes after claims a few months ago that Chelsea were closely watching PSV frontman Pepi. Incidentally, Pepi previously admitted he supported Chelsea as a child.

Who is Ricardo Pepi?

It’s been a while since transfer rumours pointed at Chelsea’s interest in PSV’s Pepi, but perhaps he should be on their radar for the final few days of the mid-season window.

The United States international is enjoying a remarkable individual campaign for PSV, where he’s scoring goals for fun in both the Champions League and the Eredivisie.

Here is a look at Pepi’s record so far this season…

A return of 18 goals in 29 appearances across all competitions is very impressive for any striker. Pepi scored what turned out to be the winning goal on Wednesday night as PSV beat Liverpool 3-2 in the Champions League group stages.