Chelsea have made Anzhi Makhachkala forward Samuel Eto'o their back up strike target, should they miss out on Wayne Rooney.

The Daily Express are reporting that Jose Mourinho will attempt to sign the veteran forward should Manchester United refuse to sell the Englishman.

The Blues are preparing a third bid for the former Everton forward, expected to be around £28million, a source close to the club told the Daily Express: “Chelsea are sure Rooney will join.”

But with United stating that they have no intention of selling a star player to a rival, Chelsea have looked for an alternative. In the last 48 hours, the Blues have enquired about the price of the Cameroon forward.

The 32-year-old was a transfer target for Mourinho when he first took charge of Chelsea, and has played under the Portuguese manager at Inter Milan. And now Anzhi have hit a financial crisis, they have put every player on the transfer list at a cut price.

This means Eto'o could be available for just £5million, alerting Serie A sides Inter and Napoli. But with Romelu Lukaku, Demba Ba and Fernando Torres already at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea will not look to sign both, with Rooney still their priority.

Mourinho will hoping his third bid is successful, but will be starting to focus ahead of the Blues' first game of the new Premier League season against Hull on Sunday.

Would Eto'o be a good alternative? Should Chelsea sign both?

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