Thomas Tuchel has not ruled out signing another striker but refused to be drawn on whether Chelsea could move for Cristiano Ronaldo or Robert Lewandowski.
The Blues made their first big signing of the Todd Boehly era on Wednesday when they landed Raheem Sterling from Manchester City for a £45m fee.
Ronaldo has been linked with a move to Stamford Bridge after failing to travel to Thailand and Australia for Manchester United’s pre-season tour.
Lewandowski has informed Bayern Munich that he wants a new challenge, although Barcelona are favorites to land the prolific striker.
Tuchel says the London club can bring in more firepower but offered little when asked about Ronaldo and Lewandowski.
Sky Sports said: “I’m not going to comment on them, their careers speak for themselves and there’s no need for me to make further comments and put rumors out there that won’t help anyone. When something is announced, we’ll announce.”
Asked about the possibility of signing another striker, he said: “I wouldn’t rule it out, but it’s not a priority. I think the priority now is defense, which everyone knows, it’s not a secret. We have to see what’s possible.”
Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly is expected to bolster Chelsea’s defence, while Nathan Ake looks set to return to the club from City after the club’s sanctions were lifted following the change of ownership.
Tuchel says it is vital that more new faces come in, with Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Romelu Lukaku all gone.
The German said: “The stakes are high and we are competing against not only the best teams to ever play in the Premier League, but also the best coaches.
“We’re coming from sanctions, we’re coming from losing top players, key players, we’re a club in transition, in ownership transition, we’ve been behind in the transfer race and we’ve been behind in the table. So we’ve got work to do.” improve.
“The signing of Raheem shows what we are capable of doing, it shows the ambition of the club and the ownership and it is good because we are all here to win and compete.
“We like to compete and we love challenges at the very top. For that we need new quality players, otherwise we have no chance.”