Chelsea eye intriguing £22m striker deal as Wolves ready raid for lethal goalscorer

Hallowe’en may have been and gone, so life has become considerably less scary for many people – but not for defenders who are about to play against Chelsea, because they didn’t have anything much to fear in the first place. Mauricio Pochettino is understandably keen to change that fact, and so it is that reports in Italy suggest that they have moved a step closer to re-signing Tammy Abraham.

Apparently Roma want to use the occasional England striker as a makeweight in permanent deal for loan forward Romelu Lukaku, although apparently the Blues still need to be “convinced”, according to reports picked up by Sport Witness. In any case, the claim is that “something could be moving in that direction,” which is delightfully vague. Roma’s valuation of Abraham is allegedly in the region of €25m (£21.8m), which is a little under half of what Lukaku is said to be worth.

The 3AM Verdict: Abraham had an impressive start to life in Rome, netting 17 Serie A goals in his first season, but things tailed off a bit last year and he hasn’t played since the summer thanks to an injury which should keep him out until January. There have always been flashes of quality in his boots, but is he the answer to Chelsea’s goalscoring problems? And would he settle for being a solid squad player at Stamford Bridge once more?

Nico a no go for Chelsea

Speaking of transfer dealings at Stamford Bridge, one player who was heavily linked with a move to London in the summer probably won’t be coming any time soon – at least not according to Fabrizio Romano, who was speaking to Caught Offside.

Fiorentina and Argentina winger Nicolás González came up a lot in summer transfer dispatches, both for Chelsea and for Brentford and West Ham United, but nothing came of it then and Romano reckons that it’s all just paper talk, saying that he’s “not aware of any contact with Chelsea.” Apparently Brentford had a £40m bid rejected and that seems to be the end of that, for now at least.

The 3AM Verdict: The Argentine international has had a tremendous start to the season, netting five times in his first seven games, so it’s hardly a shock to see Chelsea added to the list of admirers. Besides, they really need another wide forward. In any case, Fiorentina didn’t want to sell in the summer and it doesn’t look like anything much has changed since.

Wolves back in for Dia deal

Apparently one of the forwards that Wolverhampton Wanderers tried to sign before deadline day was Salernitana and Senegal striker Boulaye Dia, who hit 16 goals in Serie A last year and has previously played for Villarreal.

Salernitana rejected a €25m bid for him and ended up upsetting Dia considerably, with the forward going as far as trying to strike to force the move – but while that situation was patched up, a move in January “cannot be ruled out” according to reports picked up on by Sport Witness. Apparently it would still take a “convincing offer” but then Wolves really, really need a striker, so perhaps they can find the cash somewhere.

The 3AM Verdict: There’s a fair amount of tension between Wolves’ need to stay on the right side of FFP guidelines and their need for someone who actually knows how to stick the ball in the back of the net – a need which has been redoubled since Pedro Neto was injured against Newcastle United. If a bit in the £20m region could do it, then they should surely give it a go – Dia has already hit three goals in his first six appearances of the season for Salernitana, so his brief strike doesn’t seem to have impacted his understanding of where the goal is.