Chelsea are interested in signing Turkish gun for hire, Burak Yilmaz.
The 27-year-old striker has played for all of Turkey’s top clubs, taking in spells at Besiktas, Fenerbahce and Trabzonspor. But it has been his stellar first season at Galatasaray, where Blues icon Didier Drogba now plies his trade, that has caught Chelsea’s eye.
Chelsea are thought to be keen on Radamel Falcao and Edinson Cavani, but face competition from teams like Monaco, PSG and Manchester City for those two players.
For a player who scored 33 goals in 34 league games for Trabzonspor two seasons ago, and eight goals for Gala in the Champions League this season, there has been surprisingly little transfer interest in Yilmaz.
And if Chelsea are willing to pay close to the £20 million the Turkish champions are reportedly asking for him, they could land one of Europe’s most prolific, if under-the-radar goal poachers.
The Blues are looking for another world class striker to add to their current line-up of Fernando Torres and Demba Ba, and perhaps also Romelu Lukaku, if the young Belgian is recalled from his loan spell away.
And buying Yilmaz could be a canny move by the Blues, that none of their rivals had expected.
Expected new Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, saw Yilmaz up close and personal when Gala played Real Madrid in the Champions League this season, and it will be interesting to see if he sanctions a move for the Turkish international.
Yilmaz meanwhile, insists that he is happy at Gala for now, but that he has not ruled out the possibility of a transfer to another club.
"I'm really happy here," he said earlier this month.
"I have a long-term contract here. If an offer is put on the table then it's the club's decision which will matter, not mine."
Would Yilmaz be a good signing for Chelsea? Or in light of their interest in Falcao and Cavani, would the Turk be a tepid transfer?