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Tom Coley

Chelsea express interest in Newcastle's Kylian Mbappe alternative but £50m fee may deter them

Whilst Thomas Tuchel continues to work with his current Chelsea squad out in America the club have continued to search for new recruits following his anger at another disjointed attacking performance against Charlotte.

After the match - which the Blues lost on a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw inside 90 minutes - the German said, "Second half, it took us half an hour to show some quality and then it was maybe for ten minutes, so it was not good at all. Not offensively, not structure-wise, not in effort, hunger to be the dominant team. It was not good enough."

This comes as Tuchel continues to try to get the best out of a failing attack that is causing him a huge £180m problem going forward. Chelsea's top scorer in the Premier League last season was Mason Mount with 11, whilst Kai Havertz and Romelu Lukaku both got eight, while nobody else entered double figures.

READ MORE: Todd Boehly's £800m plan to 'reshape' Chelsea with Stamford Bridge blueprint and new roles

Todd Boehly's initial answer to this has been to bring in Raheem Sterling. With 109 league goals he becomes the most experiences attacker at the club and is expected to improve his teammates' output as well.

Chelsea are still looking to offload their underperforming forwards though, with Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech both seemingly keen on a move away whilst the club wouldn't stand in their way if a good offer was to come in. This opens up another spot for a new forward, and Chelsea think they've found the answer.

Newcastle's maverick winger Allan Saint-Maximin has become of the most unpredictable and exciting wide players to watch in England and possesses the raw pace, energy and skill to dazzle opponents. This has drawn Chelsea's attention, according to reports.

The 25-year-old joined the Magpies from Nice in 2019 and quickly asserted himself as their brightest spark, drawing interest from a host of Europe's top clubs. He was expected to leave the club before the Saudi ownership deal was completed but he is now part of Eddie Howe's new revolution.

Given his contract still has four more years on it the uncapped Frenchman wouldn't come cheap, with the Mirror reporting that Chelsea have been taken aback by his £50m price tag. The winger has just 11 goals and 14 assists in his three years in England, but the caveat is that he has been largely playing a lone hand at St James' Park.

The main attraction to Saint-Maximin outside of his flair is his dribbling ability as Tuchel looks to add direct wingers to his armoury. The former Nice player ranked even higher than PSG star Kylian Mbappe for taking on opponents last season, demonstrating his ability with the ball at his feet.

Whilst there is definite admiration for the player from Tuchel, football.london understands that there would be high competition for his signature from Everton and Wolves, though with their new financial stream, Newcastle are no longer under pressure to sell their star.

There is also the chance that Tuchel might be able to offload previous Howe target Ross Barkley in the deal, though that seems unlikely due to his wage demands.

Howe will also have a big say in Saint-Maximin's future, with the former Bournemouth manager happy with how his player is looking ahead of the new season. “We've worked really hard with Maxi during pre-season. He's in a really good place, I think," he said.

"He looks happy. He's trained well. He's delivered everything that we've asked him to deliver. You know, we've pushed him physically. He's responded. So, I'm hoping for a very, very good season.”

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