Chelsea Enter Race for Lewandowski as Mourinho Nears Return

Chelsea have decided to abandon their plans to bid for Atletico Madrid striker Radamel Falcao and have now turned their attention to Borussia Dortmund hitman Robert Lewandowski.

The Blues have been consistently linked with a move for Falcao for much of the season and reports suggested that they were ready to make an offer in the region of £46million during the summer transfer window.

However, the Express now reports that Chelsea have decided to enter the race to sign Lewandowski who has been heavily linked with Bayern Munich and Manchester United in recent weeks.

The Poland international recently grabbed the headlines when he scored all four goals against Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final but a matter of days later he was being linked with a move away from Dortmund.

Having seen teammate Mario Goetze make the decision to leave Dortmund for Bayern Munich, there was plenty of speculation that Lewandowksi would follow suit.

The 24-year-old has just over 12 months remaining on his contract and there is a feeling that Manchester United and Bayern will both put in offers during the summer in order to test Dortmund's resolve.

Now it seems Chelsea will also enter the bidding amid reports stating that Jose Mourinho has already contacted Lewandowski to try and convince the striker to join him at Stamford Bridge next season.

Mourinho appears set to leave Real Madrid and return to Chelsea at the end of the season, despite the shock news that Sir Alex Ferguson will step down as manager of Manchester United after leading his side to yet another league title.

The Madrid boss was immediately linked with a move to Old Trafford but it now seems likely that he will instead return to Chelsea, with Everton boss David Moyes now the outstanding favourite to succeed Ferguson at Old Trafford.

Should Mourinho seal his return to west London then he will inevitably want to invest heavily in the squad and it is assumed that he will look to sign a striker.

Fernando Torres and Demba Ba have been far from prolific this season, while Lewandowski has 35 goals in all competitions, including 10 in just 11 Champions League appearances.