Report: Chelsea Still Want Gonzalo Higuain Amid Olivier Giroud Exit Rumours

Chelsea are reportedly still hopeful of landing Juventus striker Gonzalo Higuain despite AC Milan being close to signing the Argentinian on loan. 

According to Darren Lewis in the Mirror, Higuain wants a permanent move as opposed to a loan, and Chelsea are aiming to partially fund a bid for the former Napoli man by selling Olivier Giroud to Marseille for a fee of around £20 million.

Chelsea will have to work fast if they are to hijack Milan's move for Higuain as he has already arrived in the Italian city ahead of his move to the San Siro, per Goal:

However, if Chelsea are planning to offload Giroud barely six months on from signing him they will need a new striker, and Higuain, 30, is arguably the best option on the market.

He is also familiar to new Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri after netting 36 Serie A goals in 2015-16, the one season he played under the Italian at Napoli.

Higuain is a natural goalscorer who could be a huge asset at Chelsea.

The Blues do not have a reliable No. 9. Alvaro Morata started his debut season at Stamford Bridge in fine fashion but dropped off in form from September last year and finished the 2017-18 Premier League campaign with only 11 goals.

Per Simon Johnson in the Evening Standard, Michy Batshuayi is set to be given a more prominent role in the side under Sarri after being pushed to the fringes of the squad by Antonio Conte.

But it would be a big risk to rely too heavily on the 24-year-old Belgian.

Higuain, meanwhile, has the goalscoring capabilities to propel Chelsea back into contention to win the Premier League title after they finished fifth last term, 30 points back from champions Manchester City.