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Football London
Football London
Sport
Tom Coley

Chelsea's sneaky Man United-inspired scouting trip for dream striker that's not Victor Osimhen

Chelsea are reportedly set to battle Manchester United for Benfica star Goncalo Ramos. The Portguese forward burst onto the scene at the World Cup with a remarkable hat-trick against Switzerland and has now been tipped to become the next big name to leave the club.

Following in the footsteps of Enzo Fernandez, Joao Felix, Renato Sanches, Darwin Nunez, Angel Di Maria, Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias, the 21-year-old is seen as one of the leading young players in his position across Europe. With 17 goals in the league this season he is now attracting attention of the top teams.

With the striker market an already competitive one heading into the summer, Chelsea are expected to be among the sides battling for an out-and-out No9 at the end of the season. Their limp total of 29 goals this season has them on course for their lowest ever tally since the Premier League's introduction.

READ MORE: How Chelsea can beat Wolves with three Frank Lampard undroppables as Christian Pulisic returns

Kai Havertz is currently being used as the centre forward with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang largely ignored by Graham Potter. Although Frank Lampard could look to get more out of the 33-year-old the Blues still need to be looking to the future. Ramos may well be seen as the man to fill the position.

According to Portuguese outlet Record, Todd Boehly is weighing up a visit to Lisbon in order to convince Ramos, repeating the tactics he and Behdad Eghabli used to secure Fernandez in January. They will face competition from Erik ten Hag's side though as Manchester United remain in the mix.

Victor Osimhen is another man that could be on the move with Arsenal, Chelsea and the Red Devils also looking at the Nigerian superstar at Napoli. Neither option will be cheap though as Ramos has a reported £105.4m (€120m) release clause. The club's new recruitment team, Paul Winstanley, Christopher Vivell and Laurence Stewart, are said to be preparing a scouting mission to Benfica in order to review the situation.

They could also look at centre-back Antonio Silva and Porto winger Pepe with new markets for players being explored under the new regime.

READ NEXT:

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Frank Lampard has already given Christian Pulisic Chelsea verdict in last chance for USMNT star

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What Frank Lampard has already said on Mason Mount, Kai Havertz & Graham Potter underperformers

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