Chelsea may have already brought in Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson so far this summer, but Mauricio Pochettino's side appear to be homing in on another attacking player.
Who have Chelsea signed this summer?
Nkunku and Jackson arrived for a combined £81.5m earlier in the window, while a host of others have since been linked as part of a huge overhaul at Stamford Bridge.
Montpellier's Elye Wahi recently emerged as a possible option for Chelsea, and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano claims the Blues have now pressed on with their initial interest.
"Understand Chelsea are now advancing in talks to sign Elye Wahi – agreement getting closer, new negotiations round scheduled with Montpellier," the Italian journalist tweeted. "Chelsea plan includes loan move for Wahi this season. Chelsea want to accelerate [this] week as there's competition."
With a number of other clubs also circling, including Chelsea's Premier League rivals Arsenal, Foot Mercato previously reported that Wahi is valued by Montpellier at around €35m (£30m).
Is Elye Wahi a good option for Chelsea?
Having hit double figures for Montpellier in 2021/22, Wahi's career truly took off last season – his third as a senior member of the French club – when scoring 19 goals in 33 Ligue 1 appearances and setting up a further five.
Those 24 direct goal involvements put Wahi on a par with Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar.
Indeed, the France U21 international ranked in the top 11% of all forwards across Europe's top five leagues in terms of goals scored last season, according to The Analyst.
There are strong parallels to be drawn with another young player who made a name for himself in France before making the switch to Chelsea, a certain Eden Hazard.
Hazard was just a year older than Wahi when joining the Blues from Lille, with whom he won the league title in 2011 – something he would repeat twice with both Chelsea and Real Madrid.
The Belgium international scored 20 goals in his final season with Lille, having netted 12 combined in the two seasons prior. Wahi scored 19 goals for Montpellier last season, having scored 13 in the two seasons prior.
While Hazard assisted 10 goals more in his final season with Lille than Wahi managed last season, he played 694 minutes more – the equivalent of nearly eight additional matches – in what was a stronger side.
The pair also showed similarities across those respective seasons in terms of shots on target per 90 minutes (1.71 for Hazard, 1.29 for Wahi) and fouls per 90 minutes (1.24 v 1.15), as per FBref, with the latter metric showing the pair are – or were in the case of Hazard – willing to get stuck in.
Comparing Wahi to Hazard is not entirely fair, given the latter would go on to become a major hit in west London, but there is no reason why the French jewel – who talent scout Jacek Kulig described as having an "incredible" season with Montpellier last time out – cannot have a similar impact.
In a summer of change at Stamford Bridge, the most exciting signing may have not yet arrived.
