Chelsea are still trying to hijack Barcelona's move for Robert Lewandowski, according to reports - and they have one big advantage over the La Liga giants.
Lewandowski is keen to leave Bayern Munich this summer after eight years at the club.
The Poland international is out of contract at the Allianz Arena in 2023 but he is ready to call time on his Bundesliga career ahead of the upcoming campaign.
Barcelona have long been in pole position to sign Lewandowski, whose agent has held talks with representatives from the Catalan outfit.
But the fact that a deal has not yet been done has opened the door to potential rivals for his signature, a group which is thought to include Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain.
Barcelona have been hamstrung by financial issues in the last couple of years, a situation which forced them to let Lionel Messi leave in 2021.
They have already completed the signings of Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie this summer, with Raphinha set to follow.
But Barcelona are struggling to get the Lewandowski deal over the line, as they continue to haggle with Bayern over the transfer fee.
The Bundesliga champions are demanding £42m for the striker - and they want all the money to be paid upfront.
That is proving problematic for Barcelona, who would prefer the deal to include add-ons and bonuses.
That potentially gives Chelsea the chance to leapfrog Barcelona in the race to sign a player who scored 50 goals for Bayern last time out.
The Blues would have little trouble raising the required funds for Lewandowski.
The big question mark is whether Thomas Tuchel wants the Poland international to be his team's main centre-forward in 2022/23.
Romelu Lukaku has been loaned back to Inter after his return to Chelsea ended in failure.
Tuchel's side have also been linked with Cristiano Ronaldo but are unlikely to submit an official offer for the Portuguese.
