Mauricio Pochettino risks angering Chelsea duo with January deal ‘likely’

Chelsea are potentially playing with fire in their pursuit of Brentford striker Ivan Toney with a ‘high chance’ of the deal going ahead in January. Chelsea have spent around £1billion on completely overhauling their squad in the past three windows.

Thiago Silva, Reece James and Ben Chilwell are the only players left from the squad that Thomas Tuchel won the Champions League with back in 2021. The main concern for Mauricio Pochettino right now though is figuring out how to get his frontline firing on all cylinders.

Nicolas Jackson was signed this past summer as the club’s new No 9, but he’s struggled to impress. Chelsea did score four in the recent 4-1 win over Burnley, with Raheem Sterling, Cole Palmer and Jackson all getting on the scoresheet.

But GiveMeSport claim Chelsea are strongly interested in signing Toney in the New Year, when his ban comes to an end. The report also adds that Toney would favour a move to Stamford Bridge as he looks to make the step up in his career.

However, any move for another striker in January risks upsetting the options Mauricio Pochettino already has at his disposal. Jackson and Armando Broja are seen as the main two options through the middle with the latter only just returning from a long injury lay off.

Pochettino laid down the challenge to Broja recently to prove he has what it takes to lead the line for Chelsea. And the Albanian forward has been favoured by Pochettino to lead the line in back-to-back league games, although he was hauled off for Jackson at half-time against Burnley.

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Chelsea signing Toney would also send a clear message to Jackson, who only moved to Stamford Bridge for £32million a few months ago. The 22-year-old fits the mold for the kind of player Chelsea have been targeting over the past year.

But it doesn’t look like he will have long to prove he’s capable of leading the line for Chelsea on a permanent basis. There are 12 league games until the January transfer window opens, at which time Pochettino will likely have a better understanding on his best attacking options.

Current reports indicate that Chelsea will move for Toney regardless of whether Broja or Jackson go on a run of form. They have a proven track record of going after a player in the market once they set their mind to it.

But disrupting progress from Broja and Jackson, both young strikers looking to make a name for themselves, could come back to bite Chelsea.

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