West Ham and Newcastle lead race for £40m Chelsea striker

According to reports, Chelsea are determined in trying to sell Michy Batshuayi this summer in order to recuperate some of the funds spent on Timo Werner, and they are hoping to sell him for £40 million.

Whilst Crystal Palace have already enquired about the 26-year-old, Palace aren't eager to pay the full £40 million that Chelsea are requesting.

Batshuayi spent the second half of last season on loan at Palace, scoring five goals in 11 Premier League games.

However, West Ham United and Newcastle are reportedly leading the chase for the Belgian, with both of them wanting to increase their options up front. With Chelsea already having Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud, as well as possibly adding Werner, Batshuayi will find it extremely hard to get any sort of playing time at the club. This season, Bathsuayi only started one Premier League game, a 2-0 loss at home to Manchester United.

West Ham's options up front are very limited, with Sebastien Haller scoring seven goals and providing two assists, whilst Albian Ajeti hasn't scored at all.

Whilst Newcastle have more options up front, their's have underperformed even more, with Joelinton scoring just three goals and providing four assists in all competitions, Dwight Gayle not scoring and providing just one assist, Yoshinori Muto scoring just one goal, and Andy Carroll providing four assists.

To put that into perspective, a heavily rotated Batshuayi's six goals in all competitions are more than what the Newcastle forwards have produced altogether.