Chelsea are looking to hijack Celtic’s plans to sign Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster on a permanent deal, Football Insider reported.
It was revealed last week that a top Premier League club was interested in Forster and now a recruitment source has revealed that Chelsea are looking to sign him this summer.
The 32 year old spent the 2019-20 season on loan at Celtic, helping them to a league and cup double.
Hoops manager Neil Lennon is eager to sign him on a permanent deal but Southampton reportedly are expecting a fee close to £10m which has discouraged the Scottish champions.
Further, he is on a salary of £70,000 a week at St. Mary’s which will surely be more than what the Hoops can offer him.
Southampton are looking to offload the Celtic loanee as they aim to reduce their wage bill with reduced income caused by the coronavirus and Chelsea might be the beneficiary of this situation.
The Blues have had some troubles in the goalkeeping department and first choice Kepa Arrizabalaga was dropped early in 2020 for 38 year old Willy Caballero but regained his spot just before the break.
Chelsea are thus looking for a good keeper who can compete with Kepa with the club unable to sell the Spaniard due to the high fee attached with him.
Forster is an ideal fit for this role, having rejuvenated his career with Celtic after falling out of favour at the South Coast.
He fell behind Angus Gunn and Alex McCarthy under manager Ralph Hassenhuttl last season before leaving on loan in the summer.
The English international has two years left on his contract at St. Mary’s but his future at the club is highly uncertain and he is keen to move this summer.
Celtic have made multiple attempts to sign him but have been priced out of a deal and it seems that Chelsea are the front runners to sign him.
The Parkhead faithful will hope that the giant keeper ends up back in Glasgow ahead of the 2020-21 campaign.
