Maurizio Sarri wants to take Napoli star Dries Mertens to Chelsea this summer, reports The Daily Telegraph.
Chelsea are still locked in talks with Napoli to make Sarri their manager for next season and the Italian is already drafting up a list of transfer targets for the Blues.
A number of current Napoli players have been linked with a summer switch to Stamford Bridge and now it has emerged Sarri wants Mertens to follow him to London.
Sarri will have to convince Chelsea to move for the Belgium international, as Antonio Conte has failed to persuade the west London outfit to move for Mertens on two occasions in the last two years.
Chelsea have refused to sign players towards the end of their careers in the past, but did appease Conte’s demands in January by signing Olivier Giroud from Arsenal.
However, Mertens turned 31 last month and his £24.5m release clause expired last week, leaving Sarri with an uphill battle to finally convince Chelsea to move for the Napoli striker.
Sarri only plays with one striker at Napoli and the potential arrival of Mertens at Chelsea would only cast doubts over Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata's future at the club.
Only Mauro Icardi (53) and Ciro Immobile (52) have scored more Serie A goals than Mertens (46) in the last two seasons, while only Radja Nainggolan (18) has made more accurate through balls than Mertens (17) in the same period.
