Who is the striker Chelsea are ‘thinking’ about signing in January?

Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink has given the biggest hint yet that he could look to bring in attacking reinforcements in the January transfer window ahead of their game with West Brom.

With just Diego Costa and Loic Remy as their senior striking options, the Blues could well find themselves short of options should injury strike later in the season.

“We are thinking. We have to have good competition, good double occupation in every position… but we must not go into this danger when something happens with one or two strikers,” he said.

“I don’t deny that it would be a concern if Costa or Remy were injured.”

The champions find themselves still languishing in the bottom half of the table in 14th position, and it could be said that some fresh blood would instill a bit of life and vigour into the club.

But who could Hiddink’s target hitman be? We take a look at some of the potentials.

Charlie Austin

Interest around QPR’s hotshot striker has been never-ending from a whole host of Premier League clubs, with Chelsea just one of the many sides linked to the 26-year-old.

The scorer of 18 top-flight goals last year, Austin has continued in a similar vein of form this term with 10 strikes in the Championship for Rangers so far.

Out of contract in the summer, the Blues would be in a position to trump most rivals in terms of any bid put in during the window, and with relocation not necessary for the player, Stamford Bridge could be a tempting proposition, a switch he is priced at 10/1 to make this month.

Jackson Martinez

The agent of the Atletico man has declared that Chelsea are interested in bringing him to west London this January, causing Ladbrokes to make the Colombian a 3/1 chance to make the switch.

He only made the move to the Spanish capital in the summer, joining from Porto for £25m having scored 92 goals in 132 games for the Portuguese giants, but could yet be on the move again.

While he has failed to pull up any trees since moving to La Liga, Madrid are unlikely to want to sell for less than they paid for him, making a huge financial outlay necessary, should Hiddink see Martinez as the man to turn Chelsea’s season around.

Gonzalo Higuain

The Argentinean Mr Consistent, Higuain has reached double figures in front of goal in each of the last eight seasons, passing 15 strikes every time he played over 19 matches.

Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has stated that the German giants are also interested in the striker, but Napoli are reluctant to sell.

It’s easy to see why with the 28-year-old helping the Naples outfit to top-spot in the Serie A table with 18 goals.

Nevertheless, Ladbrokes make Chelsea 11/4 favourites to sign the former Real Madrid striker this January, in a move that is likely to cost them in the region of £30m.

Emmanuel Adebayor

Any move for the Togolese striker would surely be a short-term one designed to purely add bodies to the senior squad.

While it might not have the glamour of the Martinez or Higuain, or the potential for improvement from Austin, Adebayor can bag goals on his day.

His attitude has been called into question on more than one occasion, but with no current club, there would be no need for a large transfer sum to be paid by the Blues, who have been linked with the former Spurs man as a stop-gap option.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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