Recent reports have claimed that Chelsea are interested in signing Fulham striker Alexander Mitrovic at the end of this season.
The Blues are likely to be in the market for a recognised striker this summer, after electing to not directly fill that void in January.
It appears they are not looking far beyond the Premier League, or even West London for a potential signing. They are also reportedly interested in signing Brentford’s Ivan Toney.
They may have a prior warning to look to though if they take their interest in Mitrovic to the next level.
Former Chelsea manager Rafael Benitez claimed when he sold the Serbian when he was in charge at Newcastle, he did so because he wasn’t mobile enough for the league.
He said: “You have a vision, and you see the stats. But I can analyse the games, the way that he was playing, and also every training session with us.
Chelsea given Mitrovic warning
“Is he a good player? Yes. Can he score goals for Fulham? Yes. But, for us, maybe we needed something different. Maybe because he was not playing, his confidence was low, and now it’s high. But we needed more mobility.
“Normally, if you’re defending and play counter-attack, the striker has to have more mobility. If not, he’s just a target man.
“For our team, that’s not ideal. Can we play this way? Yes, but we would need to sign other players. It depends on the players around. But were we right or wrong? We got promoted, we won the Championship, we were right. Then, we finished 10th (last season) – so we were right.”
Any potential addition up front for Chelsea will also have to compete with the incoming Christopher Nkunku.
The Frenchman is set to join at the end of the season, giving an even bigger headache to whoever is in charge for next season.
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