Rumour: Chelsea eye strikers Diego Costa and Mario Mandzukic

Mario Mandzukic

Chelsea are lining up a double striker swoop in the summer, as they look to bring in both Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid and Mario Mandzukic from Bayern Munich to bolster their ailing forward line, according to the Daily Mail.

Jose Mourinho has spoken openly about his dissatisfaction with his current options up front and has made promises that he intends to rectify the situation at Stamford Bridge in the summer with a world-class forward a priority.

Chelsea’s title challenge has suffered a couple of blows recently as they drew blanks in 1-0 defeats to Aston Villa and Crystal Palace, leading the Portuguese tactician to field Andre Schurrle as a false nine in the equally unsuccessful 3-1 defeat to Paris St Germain on Wednesday.

With the futures of Samuel Eto’o, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba all up in the air for the summer, Chelsea are scouring the market to see who they can bring in and have named Costa and Mandzukic as their top targets.

Costa has become the most in-demand striker in Europe following his exploits for Atletico, netting 22 goals for the current Spanish league leaders and being a major force in Los Rojiblancos run to the Champions League quarter-finals, with a £35 million release clause existing in his contract, a fee well within Chelsea’s reach.

Mandzukic may come at an even more reasonable price, with the Croatian considering his future at Bayern Munich after they agreed a deal to bring Robert Lewandowski to the Allianz Arena for next season, leaving him potentially surplus to requirements to the reigning European champions.

Real Sociedad’s Antoine Greizmann is another reported target after a fine season in front of goal for the Frenchman, while Torres could be sold off to Italy in order to meet with FIFA Financial Fair Play rulings.

Mario Mandzukic has scored more goals (17) than he has had shots that have gone off-target (16) this season for Bayern Munich.