Will Chelsea sign a striker this month? Everything Mauricio Pochettino said about the Blues’ January transfer plans after Saturday’s win against Fulham

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino was tight-lipped on the Blues’ striker search after Saturday’s 1-0 win over Fulham, insisting he has not said the club need to sign a centre-forward.

Cole Palmer’s penalty gave Chelsea all three points on Saturday and saw the Blues win their third straight Premier League match, something they had not achieved since October 2022.

Still, though, Pochettino’s side are struggling for goals and another injury to summer signing Christopher Nkunku has not helped.

One forward, David Datro Fofana, left the club on Saturday to sign for Burnley on loan until the end of the season and it is thought that bringing in a striker is priority for the west Londoners this January.

Chelsea have been strongly linked with a number of attackers after a difficult start to the season which sees them down in 10th place, with Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and Brentford’s Ivan Toney both understood to be transfer targets.

Brighton’s Evan Ferguson has emerged as another player potentially on Chelsea’s radar this winter and Pochettino was asked about interest in the Republic of Ireland teenager.

“No, I think you know very well I don’t talk about rumours,” the Argentine said. “I am never going to talk about players who are in a different club. I am so respectful. No, we are not talking. We are assessing the squad and if something happens, we will communicate but at the moment, we didn’t take any decision.

“I never said that we need a centre-forward. No, because after that we create a problem, me with my people. I never said that. I didn’t say that yesterday in my press conference that we need [a striker].

“I said that we are working like another club, trying to assess and see the market, all the different situations that can appear. The most important thing is this club is ready to act and one or another direction but I never said we need to add another player in the squad.”

Next up for Chelsea is a home game against Middlesbrough in the teams’ Carabao Cup semi-final second leg on January 23rd, when the Blues will look to turn over a 1-0 deficit from last week’s first match at the Riverside.

More Chelsea storiesChelsea are ready to rival Manchester City and Barcelona for a Brazilian teenage starlet who has been likened to Lionel Messi.

Chelsea are also eyeing a striker who is scoring plenty of goals for La Liga surprise package Girona.

And the Blues have joined the race to sign a defender who has been likened to Raphael Varane.

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