CHELSEA are closing in on a summer swoop for Montpellier star Elye Wahi, reports suggest.
Wahi stood out in Ligue 1 last season as he registered an impressive total of 19 goals and six assists in 33 appearances.
And according to The Mail, the Blues are ready to add the striker to Mauricio Pochettino’s squad.
Inter Milan have also shown interest in the 20-year-old wonderkid but the West Londoners are expected to win the bidding war.
If the France Under-21 international joins Chelsea then he is expected to be loaned out to Strasbourg.
This comes after the Premier League giants’ owner Todd Boehly bought a near 100 per cent stake of the Ligue 1 outfit.
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That is despite Pochettino desperately looking for a centre-forward to spearhead his attack this coming season.
Nicholas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku also moved to Stamford Bridge this summer.
But Jackson may not be the team’s starting No9 whereas Nkunku is more likely to be used in different positions up front.
Wahi is so highly-rated he has been compared to Chelsea legend N’Golo Kante, despite the fact they play in different positions.
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The comparison with Kante, who left for a mega-money contract in Saudi Arabia for Al-Ittihad, comes through them both hailing from the small Paris suburb of Courcouronnes.
And each started their football careers at the local amateur club JS Suresnes and, like the star midfielder, Wahi spent every spare second at their Maurice-Hubert stadium honing his skills.
Those similarities saw Le Parisien dubbing the young Frenchman as “Kante’s little brother”.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
