Chelsea transfer news: Jose Mourinho makes personal trip to scout Andriy Yarmolenko

Jose Mourinho was in attendance during Ukraine's Group C qualifier against Spain on 12 October, with media reports suggesting he was scouting winger Andriy Yarmolenko. The 25-year-old winger has long been linked with a Premier League movie, and publications in Spain believe the Chelsea boss is on the brink of making a move for him in the January window. Arsenal, Everton and Barcelona have also been linked with the player.

With Chelsea facing Dynamo Kyiv twice in their upcoming Champions League group stage matches (on 20 October and 4 November), early reports said the Portuguese manager was investigating the seven players in the Ukrainian national team who play for the side – along with the fitness of his charges Cesc Fabregas, Cesar Azpilicueta and Pedro Rodriguez.

But both Sport and AS later claimed that the real reason behind his trip was to see Yarmolenko in action.

Sport reported that Mourinho has been tracking Yarmolenko since his time as Real Madrid manager, but opted against taking the plunge then as the Ukraine star was too young.

Yarmolenko has made impressive progress since. Last season he was involved in 28 goals (14 scored, 14 assisted), while he has already netted four times this campaign.

Sport claims that Mourinho is finally ready to sign the Ukrainian, with a price tag of £14.9m ($22.7m) mooted. However, Barcelona, Everton and Arsenal have also allegedly been in contact with the player's agents, asking about his willingness to move abroad.