Reports: Chelsea make stunning £87.5 million bid for striker to partner Morata

What's the story?

Alvaro Morata showed his calibre with a superb performance that almost pulled 10 (and then 9) man Chelsea back into a game they'd been trailing 3-0 in before his introduction. His wonderful header and even better assist underlined his class but Antonio Conte is not convinced that his attack is complete as of yet.

What with Diego Costa playing the role of villain to perfection - and refusing to turn up for training - Chelsea's attack looks a little lightweight and Conte feels he has the perfect solution to this major headache in the form of Torino's on-fire striker Andrea Belotti as per the Metro.

He will not be an easy buy, though, seeing as Torino have refused to sell him for anything less than a sum that will activate his release clause of £87.5 million; but he just might be worth breaking Chelsea's, and the Premier League's, transfer record for.

In case you didn't know

Andrea Belotti, 23, scored 26 goals in Serie A last season and impressed one and all with both his finishing and his all-round ability.

Will Belotti light up the Premier League like he did Serie A last season?

Chelsea, though, will have to contend with AC Milan who seem desperate to land him - with newly-appointed captain Leonardo Bonucci also talking up the young Italian striker.

The heart of the matter

Belotti is a bull of a striker whose pace and power would see him perfectly at home in the Premier League and he'd be the perfect foil to the far more subtle wares of Alvaro Morata. The two could really feed off each other and Chelsea could bring back the glory days of a great two-man strikeforce partnership.

Oh, and there's this:

7 - Only Andrea Belotti (10) has scored more headed goals within the top 5 Euro leagues since Aug 2016 than Álvaro Morata (7). Consolation?

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 12, 2017

This move, would, of course, hinge on Diego Costa's exit, and Chelsea are confident they'd be able to offload the vitriolic striker for a decent amount before the transfer window ends. Hence the bid so late on for the Italian striker - a bid to force Torino to cash in before the door closes on them.

Video

For those who haven't seen Andrea Belotti in action -

the lad can play, can't he?

Author's Take

Antonio Conte's preferred formation has always been a 3-5-2 that seamlessly shifts to a 5-3-2 when the bus needs to be parked, and if the wily Italian can find a way to fit in Eden Hazard in that system (the Belgian reveled in the 3-4-3 last season) 3-5-2 may be the way forward for the defending champions.

In that scenario, a strikeforce of Morata and Belotti would be a fearsome prospect for any defence to handle... but otherwise, spending £87.5 million on Belotti would entail either him or £70 million Alvaro Morata would end up warming the bench for a vast majority of the season.