Chelsea and Manchester City are reportedly set to battle for Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's signature in January.
Caught Offside reported that the two English Premier League clubs are going to "lock horns over the signing of" the 27-year-old Gabon international when the winter transfer window opens at the end of the year. However, the report also claimed that the Blues and City "could be left disappointed" as Aubameyang still prefers a transfer to La Liga giants Real Madrid.
Earlier reports said that the former Milan and Saint-Etienne forward has a release clause of £50 million in his current contract. However, the Mirror recently indicated that Aubameyang costs £65 million to snatch from Germany and that he is "set to leave (Dortmund) at the end of the season".
After turning down several bids during the summer, Die Borussen is now reportedly ready to sell their prized striker next summer as long as the said transfer fee is met. This boosted the chances of Chelsea and Manchester City, two teams that are rumored to be keen on adding the French-born Gabonese to their rosters.
Aubameyang is said to be one of three footballers in the wish list of City head coach Pep Guardiola next summer with the other two being Arsenal's Hector Bellerín and Juventus' Leonardo Bonucci.
Guardiola, who formerly coached champion teams in Barcelona and Bayern Munich, sees his team as lacking in attacking options with only Sergio Agüero and Kelechi Iheanacho as his choices at the center-forward spot.
Agüero was recently suspended for three games early in the season and the Spanish coach was left with only Iheanacho as the lead attacked in his 4-2-3-1 formation.
Guardiola admitted that the team needs one more striker to not compromise the strength of the squad.
Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Antonio Conte also wants a third striker to add to his current options of Diego Costa and Michy Batshuayi.
An injury or suspension for either one of the two will also greatly weaken the Pensioners and the former Italy national team coach wants an insurance at the position as well.
Aubameyang is reportedly intending to move to Real Madrid sometime in his career to fulfill a promise he made to his grandfather. This small but significant detail is said to be one of the reasons that could hamper the interests of Chelsea and City.
Then again, Los Blancos is under a transfer ban from FIFA that would prohibit them from buying players in the next two transfer windows. This means that if Aubameyang wants to join Real, he would have to wait until January 2018 to do so.