Chelsea are eyeing up a potential move for Mauro Icardi this summer amid doubts over his future at Inter Milan.
Icardi, 27, was loaned out to Paris St-Germain by Inter this season and has been in solid goalscoring form for the French champions.
The Argentina striker has netted 19 goals in 28 appearances so far, helping Thomas Tuchel’s men build up a 10-point lead at the top of Ligue 1.
According to FC Inter News, PSG have an option to buy Icardi outright for £54m in the summer transfer window.
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Icardi has to ‘endorse’ the move himself, although the player and wife Wanda Nara are open to heading back to Inter next season.
Nevertheless, Antonio Conte’s side would prefer to cash in on Icardi having spent £73m on Romelu Lukaku last summer.
Lukaku has settled in well at the San Siro, bagging 22 goals in 33 games this term.
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If PSG are not interested in taking Icardi off their hands permanently, though, Inter could offload the centre-forward to Chelsea instead.
The Blues are said to be interested in signing Icardi amid Frank Lampard’s desire to bolster his attack.
It is believed they had ‘taken information’ on his situation and could come back in with a concrete offer when the summer window opens.
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Real Madrid and Juventus are also reportedly monitoring Icardi for any ‘possible developments’.
But Chelsea manager Lampard has been desperate to sign another striker since seeing their two-window transfer ban lifted in December.
He missed out on a number of key targets in January, including Lyon frontman Moussa Dembele.
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Fortunately, though, Olivier Giroud stepped up in Tammy Abraham’s absence to open the scoring in the Blues 2-1 win over Tottenham on Saturday.
The Frenchman has found first-team opportunities few and far between this season and was looking to leave Stamford Bridge in the January transfer window.
Lampard decided to keep hold of Giroud, however, and he repaid the faith by breaking the deadlock in the 15th minute of their crunch top-four clash with Spurs.
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Marcos Alonso then doubled the hosts’ lead, before a late Antonio Rudiger own goal forced them to hold on.
Spurs should have been reduced to 10 men earlier in the match, though, when Giovani Lo Celso stamped on Cesar Azpilicueta.
VAR officials decided against sending the midfielder off, only to later admit they made a mistake.
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