Chelsea to continue Mertens hunt after initial bid was rejected
Chelsea’s pursuits of a striker will go down to the wire after their £6million bid for Napoli’s Dries Mertens was rejected.
Chelsea retain hope of landing Edinson Cavani from PSG after his move to Atletico Madrid fell through.
Should Chelsea fail it will have implications for Olivier Giroud who has interest from Lazio, Tottenham and Newcastle.
Chelsea could still make one last attempt to sign Mertens before Friday’s 11pm transfer deadline.
The 32-year-old is a Napoli stalwart having been at the club since 2013, but now has just six months left on his contract and could leave for free at the end of the season.
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One potential hurdle to overcome is that Mertens is just four goals away from becoming Napoli’s all-time top goalscorer, an accolade he is desperate to achieve.
It has been reported by Gazzetta dello Sport that Napoli chief Aurelio de Laurentiis is weighing up his options, and is of the belief that ‘Mertens could come in handy between now and the end of the season’.