Chelsea have been alerted to the availability of Dutch international striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar who Schalke general manager Horst Heldt revealed this week has a £17 million release clause at the German club. With Didier Drogba having left Chelsea this summer and still big question marks at Stamford Bridge over Fernando Torres being able to find his prior Premier League form at Liverpool on a regular basis, Chelsea are in the hunt for a new forward and have been impressed by Huntelaar's strike rate of 29 goals in 32 Bundesliga matches this season. The 28-year-old was a star player for Schalke who finished third in the league on the backs of his goals having found his own form again after previous big money moves to Real Madrid and AC Milan never worked out. Prior to those big money transfers Huntelaar scored 76 times in 92 league appearances and his return to that kind of form has the rest of Europe on alert now that his release clause has been made public. Chelsea's Premier League rivals Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal have all expressed interest in Huntelaar in the past but have been put off by his high price tag.