Former Arsenal defender Paul Merson has urged Frank Lampard to bring Edinson Cavani to Stamford Bridge in the January transfer window.
The Uruguayan striker has reportedly handed in a transfer request at Paris Saint-Germain, with Chelsea among a number of Premier League sides touted for his signature.
Chelsea have suffered a dip in results recently and lack options beyond Tammy Abraham at the spearhead of the attack, which is why Merson believes signing Cavani is 'an absolute must'.
"I would have thought they need to strengthen in January. The main priority now is to get into the top-four,” he told Sky Sports’ The Debate.
"At the start when Frank took over, I thought it’d be a transition year with a lot of young players but now they’re in the top four and they’re in a good position.
“They’ve struggled in certain games, they’ve lost to Newcastle, they lost to West Ham, they lost to Southampton, they lost to Bournemouth and they’ve not really looked like scoring in some of those games.
"For me, going forward I think a centre-forward is needed. There is talk about Cavani, when a player of that class comes up, and they don’t come up too often, especially in January, I think it’s an absolute must.
"They should 100% aim for the top-four. I think if Chelsea beat Arsenal tomorrow, you can write Arsenal off. The problem is I don’t think Abraham has signed a new contract and if Cavani comes in, obviously he’s not sitting on the bench.
"You want Tammy Abraham to sign but it’s a long season. Does Cavani come in, start playing and Abraham doesn’t sign, then they lose a very promising centre-forward who could go on somewhere else.”
