He’s one of the hottest properties in world football right now and Torino striker Andrea Belotti’s stock continues to rise. After a scintillating hattrick last weekend saw the 23-year-old shoot to the summit in the race for top Serie A goalscorer, La Gazzetta dello Sport claims that Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte has now identified the player as his number one choice to replace Diego Costa at Stamford Bridge.
 

Quite straight forward then, or rather not with reports suggesting the Premier League champions elect will not have it all their own way this summer in the race for the Italian international. Manchester United are also in the frame as they look to bolster their own forward line and get ready for life without Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney.Then there’s Real Madrid, who look likely to off-load Alvaro Morata at the end of the season and who see Belotti as the perfect replacement at the Bernabeu. 
 

The player’s current contract has a €100 million release clause in it which applies to clubs outside of the peninsula. Torino patron Urbano Cairo has already stated that he’s in no hurry to sell and is prepared to wait for the clause to be met before sitting down around the negotiating table. It looks as though we have an intriguing summer ahead in this particular transfer saga.