Chelsea have already signed their Antonio Nusa alternative as Tottenham enter £30m talks

Tottenham are in talks to sign Antonio Nusa from Club Brugge with Chelsea also huge admirers of the talented 18-year-old – but their business last year means it does not matter too much

Going into the January transfer window, one thing was on Chelsea supporters' minds: signing a goal scorer. While the Blues' fortunes in front of goal have certainly improved, there have still been games this season where the need for a clinical No.9 couldn't have been more obvious.

Nicolas Jackson has come in for a lot of stick in his debut season with the club but the 22-year-old has eight goals to his name in what is a decent return so far. Jackson, though, has been known to be wasteful in the opposition's box – something that has cost Chelsea on occasions.

This month, though, there is not an obvious solution to the club's need for a deadly attacker. Victor Osimhen and Ivan Toney are both high on Chelsea's agenda but both are viewed as unattainable in January for differing reasons.

While Toney has made no secret of his desire to move on from Brentford, the 27-year-old striker is expected to see the season out with the Bees after returning from his eight-month ban on Saturday evening against Nottingham Forest. It is a situation that Chelsea, along with a host of other clubs, will most likely revisit at the end of the season.

It is a similar story with Osimhen. The Nigeria international, who scored in his country's Africa Cup of Nations opener last weekend, is perhaps the most in-demand striker in world football at the moment and is expected to cost over £100million after recently signing a new deal which included a release clause.

With concerns over the Premier League's Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) looming at the moment, a lot of clubs have been very quiet this month in terms of transfer business. It could be a different story in the summer, though, as clubs get to grips with what is going on and have better understanding of their respective situations.

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Another attacker Chelsea have been looking at for a while is Club Brugge's Antonio Nusa. The 18-year-old is more of a winger than Toney and Osimhen but he is someone who seems to be destined for the top after breaking into the Belgian club's first-team at such a young age.

However, football.london understands Chelsea's London rivals Tottenham have stolen the march in the race for Nusa. Spurs have opened talks with Club Brugge over the Norwegian talent, who is set to cost around £30million. While no offer has been lodged just yet, Tottenham are making good progress in negotiations, it seems.

Nusa is a left winger, someone who is electric with the ball at his feet and is very direct in his approach. For all of the talent and promise Nusa has, he is not someone Chelsea desperately need or want.

The Blues already have options for the left wing position, including Mykhailo Mudryk. Over 12 months ago, the Ukrainian put pen to paper on an eight-and-a-half-year contract with the club after signing from Shakhtar Donetsk for an initial £62million, that could rise to £88million in time.

After a really promising cameo away at Liverpool on his debut, there was such excitement about what Mudryk could bring to Chelsea. But after that match at Anfield, it took a lot of time for the 23-year-old winger to settle.

This season, though, his goal and assist tally has drastically improved. Mudryk has netted four times and assisted twice in 21 games in all competitions. And while that can still be improved on massively, there is some clear progression there.

For the most part, too, Mudryk has been a threat on the left-hand side for Chelsea. Mauricio Pochettino seems to trust the winger and his comments from December indicate that he believes the former Shakhtar attacker still has much more to offer the club.

"He's a fantastic guy and he's such a nice person," Pochettino said on Mudryk last month. "He's very authentic and genuine. One thing I can tell you, he's very honest and very trustworthy and a very genuine and spontaneous guy. I trust him as a person, of course.

"And then as a player he knows he needs to keep improving. He's still young and he is going to improve, because he has the quality. He's a player that in his evolution is doing really well and we are so happy.

"For sure with time he's going to be a very important player. He's already an important player but he's going to improve a lot because the potential is massive."

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