Forget £100m Ivan Toney - Chelsea can solve their goalscoring woes for just £15m this January

Christmas 1998 had the Furby, Christmas 1991 had the Gameboy, and January 2024 has Serhou Guirassy. Anybody who is anybody in the Premier League has been linked with the Guinean sensation this winter, and in fairness, you can understand why.

After a relatively unremarkable career in French and German football, the 27-year-old has exploded into life for VfB Stuttgart since the beginning of the new campaign. With 19 goals in just 16 appearances so far this term, he has established himself as one of the hottest goalscoring presences in European football, and his tally of 17 Bundesliga strikes is surpassed only by Bayern Munich's £100 million man, Harry Kane.

A large part of the reason that Guirassy is attracting so much attention from Premier League clubs this month, however, is that he would cost a mere fraction of that dizzying price tag. According to various reports, the striker has a release clause of just £15 million written into his contract in Baden-Württemberg, making him an affordable alternative to several of the high profile centre forwards who are rumoured to be in-demand between now and the start of February.

One club who are expected to delve into the market for attacking reinforcements are Chelsea. Because, of course they are. The Blues, despite having spent over £1 billion in transfer fees since the arrival of American owner Todd Boehly, are still very much a work in progress, and with Nicholas Jackson misfiring off to the Africa Cup of Nations and Christopher Nkunku struggling for fitness, it is understood that Mauricio Pochettino may push to sign a new focal point for his faltering frontline.

For a while, the widespread belief has been that Chelsea will be one of the clubs hot on the heels of Brentford talisman Ivan Toney. The striker is set to return from a gambling-related ban in the coming weeks, and his current employers face an almighty battle if they are to retain his services beyond the end of the transfer window. Indeed, Brentford seem somewhat consigned to the prospect of losing the 27-year-old, and, understandably, are expected to eke out as much money as they can from his looming departure. A price tag of around £100 million has been touted.

And while nobody can deny Toney's quality as a Premier League goalscorer, or the fact that he is deserving of an opportunity with one of the division's traditional 'big six', you have to wonder whether Chelsea, for once, would be better off pursuing the cheaper option.

Not only do they continue to tempt and tease the gods of Financial Fair Play with their exorbitant sprees, but any swoop for Guirassy could represent a low risk, high reward gamble. In today's market, £15 million is nothing short of a steal, especially for a player who is currently averaging one goal every 64 minutes across all competitions. There will be those who are wary of the Guinean fizzling out as quickly as he ignited, those who believe that he is nothing more than a flash in the pan. Perhaps they are right - after all, we have no way of seeing into the future.

But while Guirassy continues to shine, and while he is available for such an absurdly low price, he simply cannot be ignored. One way or another, you fancy that the Stuttgart phenomenon is going to end up in the Premier League sooner rather than later. His destination might as well be Stamford Bridge as anywhere else.