Chelsea are claimed to be ‘very interested’ in signing Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City as they look to solve their goalscoring struggles.
The Blues came into the recently completed campaign with high hopes that the club-record £98m signing of Romelu Lukaku could transform them into top four contenders, though finished a distant third after an inconsistent season.
Despite an initial decent start, the Belgian struggled to properly settle into Thomas Tuchel’s system and was even left on the bench at spells with Kai Havertz preferred.
Lukaku – who ended the season with 15 goals in 44 appearances for the Blues – has since been linked with a return to Inter Milan, though it remains to be seen whether the Italians are able to finance a deal.
Chelsea have been linked with signing Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele in recent weeks, and are now being linked with further bolstering their front line with interest in Gabriel Jesus.
The Manchester City number nine is thought to be keen to call time on his spell at the Etihad following the arrival of fellow forwards Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez this summer, with Arsenal having been most strongly linked with his signature.
According to Spanish outlet AS, Chelsea are ‘very interested’ in the Brazilian and have informed him that a ‘formal proposal’ is will come once the sanctions on the club have been lifted.
However, the sale of the club to Todd Boehly’s consortium last week mean that those sanctions have already been lifted and the club is free to return to normal operations.
“The sale of Chelsea has now been completed – a great relief to Chelsea fans around the country and indeed the world,” Sports Minister Nigel Huddlestone tweeted.
“The takeover means that the club is no longer subject to the sanctions imposed on Roman Abramovich, and can look ahead to a secure long-term future.”
Real Madrid have also been linked with Jesus, though the AS report describes their interest as ‘very difficult’, with the European Champions having already filled their quota of three non-EU players with Vinicius Jr, Eder Militao and Rodrygo.
Jesus only has one year remaining on his contract at Man City, though reports last month claimed that they were still asking for a pretty substantial £55m.
