Chelsea's sporting directors slammed by fans after 'bidding £34 million' for striker who scored just nine times last season

Chelsea may have secured their first signing of the summer, and fans aren’t happy.

Todd Boehly’s tenure as co-owner of Chelsea has been rocky at best.

After leading a £4.25billion takeover of the club in 2022, the American has overseen the transfers of players such as Mykhalio Mudryk, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Jackson.

Having been interim sporting director of the club for nearly seven months, Boehly stood down from the role and was replaced by Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.

And, having survived an end-of-season review which put their positions under threat, Winstanley and Stewart have reportedly submitted their first bid of the season.

According to Gianluca Di Marzio, Chelsea have submitted a €40 million bid for Atletico Madrid’s Samu Omorodion.

After scoring in the first game of the season for Atletico, the striker spent the remainder of 2023/24 on loan with La Liga club Deportivo Alaves, but only scored eight goals in 35 appearances for the club.

And Chelsea fans are clearly not excited by the transfer news.

Replying to the news on X, one fan said: "The sporting director need to get their head examined."

Another added: "Can't recognise my club man. Sad state of affairs."

But not all fans were outraged with the news, with one pointing out that others are likely reacting prematurely, saying: "There are about 7 people on this entire app who have actually watched Samu Omorodion.

“Anyone who claims they have watched him enough to make a sufficient judgement on the player is telling porkies…97% of us googled him 27 minutes ago and don’t have a scooby."

Samu Omorodion made 36 appearances in La Liga in 2023/24. (Image: Getty)

The signing of the 20-year-old would continue Chelsea’s current trend of prioritising signing youth prospects over well-known big names.

This strategy led the club to players like £62m winger Mudryk, who scored seven goals in 41 appearances last season and Jackson, who scored 17 in 44 appearances.

Should Chelsea secure the signing of Omorodion, he will be the first signing of the Enzo Maresca era, after the Italian manager replaced Mauricio Pochettino on 3 June.

Pochettino left Stamford Bridge by mutual consent two weeks earlier, after leading Chelsea to sixth in the 2023/24 Premier League.

SPORTbible are on WhatsApp! We've launched a dedicated transfer news channel to send you the latest deals, rumours and more directly on WhatsApp and all you need to do to sign up is click through to our one-way broadcast channel here for 'SPORTbible News' to appear in the 'Updates' tab on your WhatsApp.