Four other names ahead of Viktor Gyokeres as Chelsea decide against paying whopping £86m release clause

Chelsea have reportedly decided against making a move for in-form Sporting CP forward Viktor Gyokeres due to his huge release clause and have four other striking options in mind instead.

Not having a prolific No.9 in their starting XI remains a glaring problem for Mauricio Pochettino’s side, but the Argentine is well aware of the issue and is doing his best to try and fix it.

A number of names have been linked with a switch to Stamford Bridge, with Sporting attacker Gyokeres thought to be at the front of the queue.

However, Football Insider claims that the former Coventry striker is not high up the list of priority targets for Chelsea.

Despite reports the contrary, the Blues are not thought to have made a concrete move for the Sweden international, who has hit 22 goals in 25 games for Sporting so far this season.

Sporting boss Ruben Amorim has also confirmed the existence of a release clause in Gyokeres’ contract, which is reportedly worth €100million (£86million).

And FI states that Chelsea will not pay anywhere close to that figure if they are to follow up their interest in a player who remains under contract in Portugal until 2028.

Coventry, meanwhile, will benefit from any future sale as they have a sell-on clause in place for the player.

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Four other strikers in Chelsea move mix

As for Chelsea’s bid to land a top striker, that is now not expected to materialise until the summer – with four other names in the frame for a switch to west London.

The Blues are also looking at Brighton forward Evan Ferguson, Napoli star Victor Osimhen, Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface and Brentford’s Ivan Toney.

Osimhen has been their No.1 target for some time, only for Napoli to refuse to sell, while Toney is expected to sign a new Brentford contract once the window shuts.

That new Toney deal will almost certainly have a release clause in it for clubs chasing his signature in the summer, which could lead to a real scramble.

Chelsea are back in action on Tuesday night when they take on Middlesbrough at Stamford Bridge in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final, trailing 1-0 from the first leg.

The big-spending Blues currently sit a hugely disappointing ninth in the Premier League table and have an FA Cup clash with Aston Villa on Friday evening.

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