Chelsea are reportedly prepared to offer Zlatan Ibrahimovic remarkable financial terms in order to persuade him to move to Stamford Bridge when his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expires at the end of the season.

According to Spanish outlet Don Balon (via Luke Gardener in the Daily Star), the Blues are ready to offer the Swedish striker a short-term contract worth £215,000 a week.

The report also indicated Arsenal are interested in the 34-year-old, but Ibrahimovic’s preference is to move to Chelsea when he is a free agent in the summer.

Though undoubtedly nearing the end of his career, Ibrahimovic is still remarkably effective in front of goal and has netted 12 goals in 12 Ligue 1 appearances already this season, per WhoScored.com. 

The same cannot be said of Chelsea’s attackers in 2015-16, with the likes of Diego Costa and Eden Hazard having gone off the boil dramatically.

As a result, the defending Premier League champions are struggling down in 14th place in the English top flight and have little to no chance of finishing the season in the top four, per Bleacher Report’s Sam Tighe:

If the Blues do indeed miss out on Champions League football next season, they could well lose out on signing up Ibrahimovic also.

However, such a huge prospective deal could well tempt Ibrahimovic either way, as could the chance to work again with Jose Mourinho—assuming the Portuguese manager is still at Stamford Bridge come the summer.

The pair were together previously for a season at Inter Milan, and the forward has stated publicly his regret at the partnership being so short-lived, per Telefoot (via MailOnline’s Rohan Banerjee).

While the addition of Ibrahimovic would be an exciting prospect at Chelsea and potentially a quick-fix to their strike problems, the Blues also undoubtedly need to look elsewhere for a longer-term solution.

A return for Costa to Atletico Madrid has been mooted as a potential January option, with French forward Antoine Griezmann reportedly moving the other way, per Fichajes.net (h/t Metro‘s Mark Brus).

Griezmann, 24, is one of Europe’s most exciting attacking talents and could add some much-needed creativity to the Blues’ attacking line—he has netted seven times and provided two assists in La Liga this term, per WhoScored.

However, he has reportedly played down the links to Chelsea, indicating the Blues may have to look elsewhere for reinforcements in the winter window, per football writer Peter O’Rourke:

Chelsea’s drop in form this season has been remarkable and they clearly need fresh blood in the squad.

Ibrahimovic would be a galvanising addition, but given he is set to stay at PSG until the summer, the Blues need an alternative solution to help them out in the second half of the season. 

from Bleacher Report – Front Page http://ift.tt/1QcgRvk
via IFTTT http://ift.tt/eA8V8J