Mourinho: Chelsea planning on bringing striker in

Posted Saturday, May 10, 2014 by Goal.com

Jose Mourinho has set his sights on bringing in a new striker as Chelsea looks to bounce back from a trophyless season.

The Portuguese returned to Stamford Bridge in June 2013 after a six-year absence, but has failed to deliver any silverware in his first season back in London, with the club looking set to finish third in the Premier League.

There was disappointment in Europe, too, with Mourinho's men suffering a semifinal exit at the hands of Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League.

Much has been made of the record of Chelsea's trio of frontline strikers, with Samuel Eto'o, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba netting just 18 league goals between them this season.

In a press conference on Friday, Mourinho confirmed that the club would be in the hunt for a new striker, but insisted that any transfer was a normal part of taking the team forward.

"The striker is something we are speaking about for a long, long time," he said. "In December and January, when all of you (the press) were asking why we were not bringing a striker, I was clear in saying it's something we were working on, that we were preparing the long-term future and not just an immediate solution.

"It's normal that we're going to bring a striker now. We have good strikers, good players, but it's the normal evolution of the team. Everyone wants the summer transfer window to improve and one area that we want to improve is the strikers' position."