Chelsea in for Atletico ace Aguero

Chelsea have made an offer of 50 million euros for Atletico Madrid’s highly-rated Argentinian striker Sergio Aguero, according to English media reports on Wednesday.

The 21-year-old, who scored 17 goals last season to help Atletico claim a place in the Champions League, is one of the hottest properties in European football.

He said earlier this month that he wanted to stay in the Spanish capital but urged Atletico’s owners to invest in player reinforcement to ensure the club was capable of making an impact among Europe’s elite, suggesting he could be attracted by a switch to a club challenging for major honours every season.

The size of Chelsea’s reported offer will severely test the resolve of the Atletico board to keep Aguero, who is the son-in-law of Diego Maradona.

Chelsea’s desire to rejuvenate an ageing squad has also resulted in moves to sign Manchester City’s 19-year-old Daniel Sturridge, who is a free agent from the end of this month.

Sturridge is set to become the best-paid teenager in English football after turning down a reported 45,000-pounds-a-week offer from City in favour of negotiating a deal with Chelsea.

City would be entitled to compensation for developing the player and will argue that Sturridge is in the same category as Theo Walcott, who could eventually cost Arsenal 12.5 million pounds under the terms of his transfer from Southampton.

The amount Chelsea will have to pay may have to be decided by a Football Association tribunal if the clubs cannot agree a price.

Chelsea are also said to be leading a three-horse race for the signature of of their former defender Glen Johnson, who has established himself as England’s first-choice right-back under Fabio Capello.

Liverpool and Tottenham are also believed to be interested in signing the 24-year-old, who will cost considerably more than the four million pounds it cost Pompey to make what was initially a loan deal from Chelsea permanent in 2007.

Liverpool’s position in the transfer market is unclear because of uncertainty over the finances of their American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who face a July 24 deadline to refinance 350 million pounds of debt they used to acquire the club.

Hicks and Gillett have played down fears the banks will call in their loans and manager Rafael Benitez, who remains hopeful of signing Spain striker David Silva from his former club Valencia, has confirmed that he has money to spend.

“Clearly we don’t have much to spend but I think we have enough money to add the one or two players that we need,” Benitez said.

Reds midfielders Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso have attracted interest from Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively but Benitez has ruled out selling any elements of the ‘spine’ of his team.

Any prospect of first-choice midfielders being sold receded when England’s Gareth Barry, who came close to joining Liverpool last summer, opted for Manchester City’s cash over the chance of Champions League football at Anfield.