Samu Omorodion is competing for Spain at the Olympic Games in Paris (Image: Getty)
Chelsea are reportedly pressing ahead in their pursuit of Spanish Olympian Samu Omorodion. The Blues have already seen bids rejected for the Atletico Madrid youngster and they may want to act quickly if another is in the pipeline.
Omorodion came on as a substitute in Spain’s 2-1 win over Uzbekistan on Wednesday as La Roja got their Olympics campaign off to a victorious start. At club level, the 20-year-old striker spent last season on loan at Alaves, where he scored eight goals in 34 La Liga games.
Standing a towering 6ft 4in tall and with plenty of maturing left to do, Omorodion is viewed as an elite attacking prospect. According to transfer expert Ben Jacobs, Chelsea are refusing to walk away from the opportunity to sign him.
The report states that it could take approximately £59million for Atletico to be swayed towards selling the prodigious talent, who has never played a first-team game for the Madrid giants.
Chelsea could be wise to stump up the cash quickly, as Atletico are believed to be working on a new deal for Omorodion which would include an eye-watering £101m release clause.
After a period of frivolous transfer spending under Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, it seems unlikely that Chelsea would be willing or able to fork out a nine-figure sum for an unproven player at the top level.
Samu Omorodion scored eight goals on loan at Alaves last season (Image: Getty)
The Blues’ transfer team are still scouring the market for attacking options to make life easier for manager Enzo Maresca. They were heavily linked with Benjamin Sesko earlier this summer before the Slovanian committed his future to RB Leipzig.
The likes of Victor Osimhen, Ivan Toney and Jhon Duran are also rumoured to be on Chelsea’s hit list as Maresca gears up for his first season at the helm. The Italian has already welcomed Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Omari Kellyman, Renato Veiga, Caleb Wiley, Marc Guiu and Tosin Adarabioyo to Stamford Bridge this summer.
Maresca’s first match at the helm did not produce the emphatic scoreline supporters wanted as they drew 2-2 with Wrexham on Thursday. After the final whistle, the new manager defended his expansive style of play while warning supporters that mistakes will be made this coming campaign.
“It is one of the risks that you have (when) trying to build from behind,” said Maresca. “I think you are going to concede in different ways, so you need to decide in which way you need to concede a goal. Sometimes teams that try to build from the back concede goals but I think you are going to score more than you concede.”
Source: https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1928604/chelsea-olympics-samu-omorodion