West Ham, Newcastle overtaken in five-way battle for Chelsea striker
West Ham and Newcastle are among five Premier League contenders for Michy Batshuayi’s signature, according to reports.
Batshuayi has fallen down the pecking order at Chelsea in recent years. He only started one Premier League game last season, and the arrival of Timo Werner has not helped his chances of first team football.
Therefore, with the striker still eyeing a place in Belgium’s squad for next summer’s Euros, he is looking for a new club where he will play with continuity.
The most likely manner of departure will be via a loan. In fact, the BBC have reported that Batshuayi is likely to sign a contract extension before being loaned out.
It seems a return to Crystal Palace will be the solution for Batshuayi. The 26-year-old spent the second half of the 2018-19 season on loan at Selhurst Park, and could now return there.
Palace are fighting off competition from several other clubs for the Belgian, though. According to Foot Mercato, Newcastle, West Ham, Brighton and West Brom have also been in the hunt.
However, the French report admits they are all still “a long way behind” Palace, who saw the striker score five goals in 11 games for them in his previous spell.
Chelsea are reportedly hoping Batshuayi rediscovers such form, meaning they would be able to sell him for a higher fee next summer.
Previous reports had also linked Batshuayi with Leeds, but the newly promoted side are not mentioned in Foot Mercato‘s report.
Marcelo Bielsa previously worked with the player at Marseille, before he joined Chelsea for €39m. However, Leeds have signed Rodrigo Moreno instead.
Batshuayi one of three players to balance the books
A recent report indicated that Chelsea were looking to offload some players after their high spending summer.
With their net spend over the past few years still quite low due to their transfer ban in the last two windows, Chelsea have been tipped to balance the books by making some sales.
And Sky Sports believe Batshuayi is one of three players on their way out to do so.