Newly-appointed Chelsea FC head coach Antonio Conte is reportedly targeting current Italian Serie A top scorer Gonzalo Higuaín as one of his top transfer priorities this summer.

Caught Offside reported that the former Italy national football team manager "is believed to be highly interested in bringing Higuaín into the fold and Chelsea are planning a transfer bid for the Argentine scoring machine".

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The report continued to mention that the 28-year-old Napoli forward "could easily replace any number of Chelsea strikers, even the trouble-making Diego Costa". The other strikers in the current Blues lineup apart from Costa are Radamel Falcao and Loic Remy, both of which have not performed up to expectations in the Stamford Bridge this season.

Higuaín is the Italian top flight's leading goalscorer this season with 30 goals in 31 games. The second leading scorers, Juventus' Paulo Dybala and AC Milan Carlos Bacca, are tied with a far-off 14 goals each.

The French-born Argentine's goal scoring feat has led Napoli to the no. 2 spot in the current Serie A table, which said to be instigated Conte's interest on the Argentina international.

However, Gli Azzurri's chance at the Scudetto has drastically reduced following the four-game ban he received from the league after his enraged reaction when he was sent off in the team's shocking 1-3 loss to Udinese last Sunday, as per BBC Sport.

Higuaín reportedly pushed the match's referee out of frustration as his squad was already two points down when he was booked with a second yellow card.

Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri was also suspended for one game "for challenging the work of the match officials," the report said.

Higuaín is set to skip Partenopei's games against Hellas Verona, Inter Milan, Bologna, and Roma before coming back to play in the team's last three matches of the season.

Napoli is currently six points behind current league leaders and defending champions Juventus FC in the overall standings.

Tags Football Transfer Rumors, Football Transfer Rumors 2016, Chelsea FC, Chelsea transfer rumors, Chelsea transfer rumors 2016, Antonio Conte, gonzalo higuain