With six weeks of the summer transfer window remaining, Chelsea have dug themselves into a hole that will seemingly require spending a small fortune to get out of.
A star striker is an integral component of any Premier League title bid – in fact, only one club has won the title in the last five years without their front-man scoring at least 20 goals – let alone a successful title defence, something no club has managed in the last eight attempts.
But eager to get the ball rolling on Chelsea’s summer transfer activity, Antonio Conte informed Diego Costa that he’s surplus to requirements at the start of June – a bridge that was well and truly burnt by the abrasive, impersonal and incredibly 21st century format Conte used, text message. The problem, however, is that Conte’s preferred replacement Romelu Lukaku went on to sign for Manchester United instead.
Chelsea now find themselves in a tricky quandary. Not only is every potential striker signing aware they aren’t the Blues gaffer’s first choice, but every club in Europe is aware that Chelsea are in need of a new front-man. That’s inevitably driven up price-tags, highlighted best by Real Madrid demanding almost £80million for a striker in Alvaro Morata who wasn’t even a guaranteed starter at the Bernabeu last season. As the summer window drags on and the situation remains unresolved, Chelsea will become more desperate and accordingly, valuations will jump up even further.
But amid the equation of Costa’s departure, Lukaku’s snub and links with a variety of centre-forwards not least including Morata, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and even Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero, one man has been forgotten. What’s more, electing him to lead the line next season won’t cost Chelsea an extra penny. The striker who cliched the Blues last season’s title at the Hawthorns – Michy Batshuayi.
That winner against West Brom glossed over what was a largely frustrating debut season for the Belgium international at Stamford Bridge. After Chelsea coughed up over £30million for his signature, many expected Batshuayi to push Costa for the lone striker role last season, but he went on to clock up just 702 minutes’ worth of action across all competitions and make just a single start in the Premier League – against Watford in May when the title as already sewn up and Conte had turned his attentions to the FA Cup.
Indeed, Conte didn’t show much faith in the 23-year-old last term but his return for the number of minutes played was actually quite impressive, producing a goal or an assist in less than every hour of play. At the same time, Batshuayi showed how capable and ambipedal a finisher he is by producing almost exactly the same number of goals with both feet – the one difference on his right being a converted penalty.
But perhaps more important than the goals are the four assists. Throughout the Roman Abramovich era, Chelsea have depended on two strikers with the power and guile to bring their immensely talented midfielders into the game – firstly Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard and then their successors, Costa and Eden Hazard.
Arguably more vital than how many goals Batshuayi can score next season is whether he can get the best out of Hazard, easily Chelsea’s most important player and one of the biggest talents in Europe. And although in terms of per-ninety-minutes, Batshuayi created less chances and won less aerial duels than Costa last season – suggesting weaker build-up play – assists were a recurring trend of his final season at Marseille as well, bagging an impressive nine in Ligue 1.
Furthermore, Chelsea beat Tottenham to Batshuayi’s signature last summer for a reason, which wasn’t simply for him to clock up 15 or 20 minutes per month by being thrown on in stoppage time to give Costa the occasional rest. He’s a talented striker in his own right and the title-winning goal at the end of last season highlighted the ten-cap international’s ability to produce the goods under pressure – something Costa couldn’t do during the same game.
Of course, starting next season with Batshuayi up front would create the perception of Chelsea failing in the transfer market, something they can ill-afford after questionable dealings in summer 2015 saw the Blues’ title defence implode before Christmas, claiming an almighty casualty in Jose Mourinho.
But Chelsea have now reached a point where they’ll have to pay over the odds for a striker who wasn’t Conte’s first choice anyway, who probably won’t fit the bill quite like Lukaku and who probably won’t offer the same level of longevity. All things considered, namely some of the outrageous fees being mooted in the tabloids, placing faith in Batshuayi is arguably the lesser gamble than spending £80million on Morata who has never set foot in the Premier League before, or putting a bid on the table so audacious it convinces City to sell Aguero.
Taking a punt on Batshuayi, however, certainly isn’t what Chelsea fans or Conte imagined at the start of the summer. So, would you make the Belgian the main striker next season? Let us know by voting below…