Red Star Belgrade striker, Richmond Boakye, claims he’ll put in his best performance against Arsenal on Thursday night amid speculation that Chelsea could be watching.

Boakye wants to put in a good performance against Arsenal in the Europa League on Thursday. However, he insists that this is because he wants to help his team and not purely because he’s being linked with a January move to Chelsea.

“If I am destined to play for Chelsea then I will join them,” the £10m-rated striker told  Belgrade newspaper Novosti (via the Sun).

“I won’t feel under pressure to perform even if they are watching me. I’m playing well for Red Star, and let’s see who wants me.

“I’m enjoying my football, and playing as well as I can.

“I will be back at the Emirates if I deserve it.  I would love to face Petr Cech once again, as when you score against someone of his calibre you celebrate more.
“Arsenal are a big club, but we take every opponent seriously.  If we play well as a team everything is possible.”

Antonio Conte signed Boakye from Genoa in 2012 when the manager was in charge of Juventus and is said to be interested in bringing the 24-year-old to Stamford Bridge.

Richmond Boakye
BELGRADE, SERBIA – OCTOBER 19: Richmond Boakye of Crvena Zvezda in action during the UEFA Europa League group H match between Crvena Zvezda and Arsenal FC at Rajko Mitic Stadium on October 19, 2017 in Belgrade, Serbia. (Photo by Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)

It’s therefore suspected that the Chelsea boss will be watching Boakye during Red Star’s clash against Arsenal at the Emirates.

The Ghanaian, who has under three years left on his current deal with the Serbian club, has already scored 14 goals in 21 appearances across all competitions this season.

While he obviously didn’t find the back of the net during Red Star’s first match against the Gunners, he did play for 80 minutes and he scored against FC Cologne. Therefore, it’s likely that he’ll start again on Thursday night.

Boakye is in fine form at the moment and if he’s playing for a move to Chelsea, he’ll probably be even more dangerous. We managed to keep him out in Serbia but Arsenal’s defence will have to be alert to deal with him this time.