Chelsea have made a stunning move for Bayern Munich’s goal-scoring superstar Robert Lewandowski.
The Poland striker netted 43 times for the German champions last season, with 30 of those goals helping them clinch their fifth consecutive Bundesliga title.
But the 28-year-old is unsettled and criticised his team-mates earlier this month, accusing them of not doing enough to make him Germany’s top scorer.
Lewandowski’s agent, Maik Barthel, has followed up and said: “Robert told me that he got no support and that the coach [ex-Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti] gave no call to help him in the last game to win the top-scorer title.
“He was disappointed as I have ever seen him before.”
Chelsea are now trying to capitalise and have now made a serious enquiry.
Lewandowski’s recruitment would be a masterstroke, with his career goal-scoring record making him one of the most prolific marksmen in the world game.
Chelsea have a number of options open to them as they bid to make changes up front ahead of next season.
The newly-crowned Premier League champs want two top strikers ahead of their return to the Champions League.
Talks have been opened with Atletico Madrid, who want to re-sign Diego Costa – even though the Spain striker cannot play for them until 2018 because of a transfer ban.
Atletico are likely to loan out Costa — who they sold to the Blues three years ago — before registering him in January, as the marksman does not want to move to the Chinese Super League in a World Cup year.
Chelsea are trying to agree a fee with Everton to buy back Romelu Lukaku , but do not want to go near the Toffees’ world-record £100m valuation.
They are likely to be just as cagey over Lewandowski, who turns 29 in August.
While they appreciate his quality, Chelsea’s chief negotiator Marina Granovskaia is keen for them not to pay over the odds for older players this summer.
The Blues are also big admirers of Real Madrid’s Alvaro Morata and Andrea Belotti of Torino, and they retain an interest in Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez , who is likely to represent better value in the current inflated market at around £50m as he has just a year left on his contract.
As well as Costa, Chelsea’s No2 striker Michy Batshuayi is being sought by a number of clubs who want to sign him either on loan or permanently.
But the Londoners will not sanction departures until they bring in new players.
Famously, Lewandowski was close to joining then-Premier League Blackburn from Lech Poznan in his homeland in 2010. However, his flight was among those grounded because of the Iceland volcano ash-cloud, and he ended up at Borussia Dortmund.
Bayern then signed him on a Bosman three years ago.
