Chelsea Boosted in Pursuit of Priority January Signing

Galatasaray chairman Unal Aysal says the club would be open to offers for striker Burak Yilmaz following reports suggesting Chelsea have made the Turkish international their number one target in the January transfer window.

Yilmaz scored 32 goals in all competitions last season for Galatasaray but his most notable contribution came in the Champions League where he netted eight times as the Turkish giants reached the quarter final stage.

Having previously stated his desire to join Arsenal during his days at Trabzonspor, Yilmaz is no stranger to English clubs and scored the winning goal against Manchester United in Europe last season.

Such impressive form has not gone unnoticed and Chelsea have reportedly made the 28 year old their primary target in the New Year transfer window as they look to solve their attacking problems.

Samuel Eto'o is yet to open his Chelsea account since joining from Anzhi Makhashkala in the summer, while Fernando Torres has scored just twice this term. Demba Ba earned his first start of the campaign against Norwich City and failed to trouble the scorers.

Chelsea's problems in front of goal have been accentuated by the success of on loan forward Romelu Lukaku, who has scored four times already for Everton this season.

But the terms of the loan dictate that Chelsea are unable to recall the Belgian from his loan spell and manager Jose Mourinho is set to delve into the transfer market once again.

And his pursuit of Yilmaz has been boosted by the revelation from Galatasaray that the forward is available but the Blues face competition from Lazio.

President Aysal said: "If he wants to go and Chelsea are interested then of course, why not?

"I favour Turkish players going to Europe to play in European leagues."

"No, not yet," he replied when asked about whether Chelsea have made contact.

"We had some requests from Lazio at the end of the summer, but the deal didn't go through because the conditions were not satisfied."