Chelsea are reportedly ‘ready to challenge’ Napoli for the signing of Jonathan David, and that will involve destroying the agreement he’s already come to with the side over his move there.

The no.9 position at Chelsea is one fraught with disappointing returns. Not since Diego Costa in 2016/17 has a Blues striker netted 20 Premier League goals.

Cole Palmer – an attacking-midfielder or winger – has done so this season, and that shows how well the Londoners could be doing if he had a quality striker alongside him.

The list of star names Chelsea have courted of late includes Viktor Gyokeres, Victor Osimhen, Ivan Toney and David.

Gyokeres has scored the most goals of any of those players this season, with a mind-boggling 36 in all competitions in his first season with Sporting CP. But he’ll cost a bomb, and reports suggest the Blues’ interest is dropping away from massively expensive assets.

David has bagged 26 goals this season, and suggested he was flattered with Chelsea interest previously.

What’s more, he’ll reportedly cost somewhere in the region of £42million, which is much cheaper than each of the other stars on the club’s list.

But while he looks the perfect player for Chelsea, they’ll now have to contend with Napoli for David’s signature.

Chelsea face Napoli competition

Indeed, Gazzetta dello Sport reports he’s agreed to personal terms with the Naples side.

It’s said David will earn just over £2.5million a year at the club.

But given there’s a short while until the transfer window opens, Chelsea still have the chance to stop the transfer before the sides exchange contracts, with no agreement between them in place.

And it’s said they are ‘ready to challenge’ Napoli for the signing of the striker, as per Corriere dello Sport.

It has been suggested that David’s admission that he was flattered by interest from the Blues previously could give them a good chance of getting him.

They’d surely be able to pay a good amount of money if they are able to get some players off the books, too.

However, with Victor Osimhen looking certain to leave Napoli for his £113million release clause this summer, the Serie A side will have a lot of cash to splash, too.

That said, Chelsea always seem to find a way to beat big clubs to transfers, such as when they beat Liverpool to Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia, so the same could be true of David.