Chelsea, Arsenal, and Tottenham are no strangers to fighting each other over a joint transfer target, such as Willian, Morgan Rogers, and Eden Hazard, and it looks like it could be happening again with all three London clubs monitoring Monzo striker Gustavo Varela.
Varela has started the Serie A season off on fire, scoring nine goals in as many appearances for a Monzo side currently sat in the relegation zone with only two wins out of their opening 10 games.
These performances have attracted interest from some of Europe's biggest clubs, and although it's still the early stages of the season, Varela has shown his goalscoring prowess, and what makes his record even more impressive is that it's whilst playing for not one of Italy's elite sides.
If any of Europe's elite want the Portuguese under-21 international, then they most likely will have to wait until the summer transfer window of 2027 to sign him, as it would be highly unlikely that Monza, who have been so reliant on him in the early parts of the season, would let him go midway through and have to find a replacement.
Whilst Varela's start to the season has been impressive, at 21 years old, he is still classed as an unknown entity, with this only being his second season in professional football after having a season-long loan at Gil Vicente last year.
But what doesn't make sense from Chelsea's standpoint regarding pursuing Varela is that the striker position isn't necessarily something that Xabi Alonso's side needs to improve on, especially having Joao Pedro at their disposal, and bringing in Danny Welbeck in the summer on a free to bring some depth.
The only reason why I can see Chelsea pursuing the 21-year-old is Joao Pedro's injury issues in the early part of the season, and they possibly may want someone to cover him when he does miss time, but if the Brazilian is injury-free, then i can see no reason why Chelsea should put too much time into monitoring him.
Looking at Chelsea's track record when it comes to signing strikers in recent years, the majority of them haven't worked out, with only a handful having some sort of success at Stamford Bridge, like Joao Pedro, and to some extent, Nicolas Jackson, and Christopher Nkunku.
Apart from those three, the rest of Chelsea's strikers have either been sold due to bad performances or never really given a chance because of the volume of players that Chelsea has been buying.
But the thing that confuses me, and I'm sure will confuse Chelsea fans, is that they had a chance to keep Nicolas Jackson at the club in the summer after his loan last season to Bayern Munich, which on paper doesn't look too impressive, but the Senegalese was playing backup to Harry Kane, but still managed to get 11 goals and four assists in the Bundesliga and Champions League.
During his time at Chelsea, his record was steady, recording 34 goal involvements in 65 Premier League matches, and he has hit the ground running since his move to Aston Villa in the summer, scoring six goals across his last seven matches for Unai Emery's side.
While Varela's impressive start to the season is likely to attract attention, maintaining this level of form could put him on the radar of some major clubs. However, as long as Joao Pedro can stay fit, Chelsea should be in safe hands. The only concern would be whether the club trusts Danny Welbeck as a reliable backup. Even then, why would Varela choose a move to Stamford Bridge if he cannot be guaranteed regular game time, particularly when other clubs are also showing interest?
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