Chelsea target two Serie A players in quest for experienced strikers
New Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino has requested experience for his front-line and has two players in mind
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Mauricio Pochettino has consulted with the Chelsea hierarchy over whether to add more experience in attack, with Juventus' Dusan Vlahovic and Roma's Paulo Dybala two of the names brought up.
While the club's new policy is to build a squad around their promising young talent, the recruitment team are sympathetic to Pochettino's argument that a certain amount of experience is required to balance that. The Argentine feels this is a quality that is potentially lacking in attack as he continues to assess the shape of his squad.
Some of it will depend on the plans for Romelu Lukaku, whose future is set to be decided this week. Inter Milan are keen to take the Belgian back on a permanent deal but Juventus are also interested, and that could smooth any potential talks about Vlahovic.
Pochettino's Argentine compatriot Dybala has also been raised as an option, and is all the more attractive since a clause in his contract means he could be available for just £10m. The Chelsea manager previously came close to signing Dybala when he was at Spurs only for the deal to collapse due to the forward's reluctance to leave Juventus at the time.
Juventus had expected there to be a market for Vlahovic this summer, especially as strikers are at such a premium, but that so far isn't the case. He has only been raised in meetings so far at Chelsea, but not to the extent of any serious interest.
Pochettino raised the importance of experience on Friday, when asked about the youth of his squad.
"It’s not a rule,” he said. “The most important thing whether experience or no experience is to get the right balance in the squad, in the team, to try to feel good, feel strong. I think we have players with experience for how we are going to cook and put the ingredients together and work really well.
"Yes, of course I love the young talent and energy but to mix with nice people, with experience that can provide to the younger ones at some point the capacity to be relaxed and to behave always in the right way."
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