If reports are to be believed, Gonzalo Higuain could be about to be reunited with Maurizio Sarri.
The Argentine striker played under Sarri for just one season, but what a season it was! Higuain had already played two years at Napoli when Sarri arrived in summer 2015 to replace Rafa Benitez. Under the Italian’s management, Higuain exploded, he scored a colossal 36 goals in Serie A that season which shattered the single-season scoring record that had stood for 50 years.
The move earned Higuain a move to Juventus, where he won two Serie A title before being run out of town. He’s spent the last half-season at Milan where he has 8 goals in 20 games, so he’s still a potential as a goalscorer, which is why Chelsea want him. And according to many sources, including RMC Sport, they’ve found an agreement to get him.
Too often when Chelsea have attacked this season they have looked soft and squishy in front of goal. They can dominate games for fun but struggle to score goals (they have five less than Manchester United, who laboured under José Mourinho until about a month ago) so a striker is just what the club needs. But what about the players? If Higuain joins, who wins and loses amongst the Chelsea squad?
Winner: Eden Hazard
Eden Hazard is a great many things, but a consistent goalscorer clearly isn’t one of them. He started the season in white hot form, giving the illusion that he was going to seriously try and hit Sarri’s target of 40 goals. But then reality set in, and halfway through the season he sits with a total of 12. He’ll probably crack 22 goals for the first time in a Chelsea shirt, but that’s not enough.
Unfortunately, because Chelsea’s other strikers aren’t such focused goalscorers, it’s had to be enough for the Blues. This in turn has effected Hazard’s game; he looks under more pressure to do it all, especially when playing in this central “false nine” role because Sarri doesn’t trust his other strikers. It’s absurd. But Higuain’s arrival would solve all his issues. He’d no longer be the side’s primary scorer and could play a freer game on the left. Higuain has the skill to link with him and allow him to score, whilst also being a lethal striker himself so the burden isn’t all Hazard’s. A big winner.
Loser: Olivier Giroud
Poor, handsome Olivier. He moved across London because he wanted to contend for a starting role at Chelsea, and his ability to link with Hazard and bring the best out of the Belgian seemed to have secured his spot in the XI. But then… it didn’t. Sarri wants someone more dynamic to lead he line, hence his use of the misfiring Morata or even Hazard himself. Should Higuain arrive, then Giroud will be firmly trapped in his role at supersub. Is there a London club he could play for and start? Probably Crystal Palace…
Winner: Sevilla and Atlético Madrid
Sevilla are rumoured to be looking to secure Alvaro Morata in January. They want a striker to join their attacking rotation with Wissam Ben Yedder and André Silva as the Andalucians as they try to mount a genuine title challenge in La Liga as well as compete in the Europa League. Atlético Madrid are also allegedly after the Spaniard for much the same reason; they need a mobile and talented forward to back-up/replace Diego Costa. So Higuain joining Chelsea would give both sides the green light to sign the Spaniard.
Loser: Callum Hudson-Odoi
Even amid the Christian Pulisic hoopla, there was perhaps a glimpse of light for Callum Hudson-Odoi regarding his Chelsea future. Willian and Pedro are both north of 30, and Eden Hazard was playing as a striker more, so the potential for minutes to open up in the wide areas for the young Englishman was fairly high.
Higuain arriving pushes Hazard back out to left-wing, and Pulisic is an obvious slot into that right-wing. This closes off all starting roles in the first XI, meaning Hudson-Odoi would have to compete with Willian and Pedro for back-up minutes.
Now, sure, Bayern Munich want to sign him – but can Chelsea even afford to let him go given they are precariously on the edge of the home grown quota required for all Premier League squads? Right now a great many of allegedly departing players (Fabregas, Cahill, Moses, Drinkwater, Hudson-Odoi) are all homegrown. It could be a case of first come, first served – which doesn’t help Hudson Odoi.
Winner: Tammy Abraham
Tammy Abraham joined Chelsea when he was 7 years-old. He’s been a promising star in their youth teams; winning consecutive FA Youth Cups in 2015 and 2016, scoring 74 goals in 98 matches across two seasons with the kids. He even scored 8 in 9 during the 2016 UEFA Youth League, to prove that he could perform against the best of the best.
Guess how many games Tammy Abraham has played for Chelsea.
Go on, guess.
It’s three.
Two sub appearances in meaningless league games at the end of 2015/16 and one sub appearance in this season’s Community Shield (when half the Chelsea squad was still on holiday). He’s also played 48 times for Bristol City (scoring 26 goals), 39 times for Swansea (scoring 8) and thus far, 20 games for Villa (16 goals). He’s becoming a loan merchant, and understandably wants to play for Chelsea. So why is he a winner of the Higuain deal? Well, because this gives him clarity. Chelsea have no interest in using him, so now he can stop faffing around with these loans and push for a real transfer away and go somewhere to make a star of himself.
Loser: Callum Wilson
Callum Wilson is in the form of his life. 9 goals in 16 Premier League games so far and such lethality that he even earned an England cap (where he scored, of course). Wilson is a striker if tremendous technical and physical gifts whose ascent to this level has only taken so long because of two horrific cruciate ligament injuries.
Wilson had been linked with Chelsea, and it’s easy to see why. He fits the profile of the kind of striker that Chelsea wanted, and seems primed to make the jump to European football. But with Higuain’s arrival, there’s no way Chelsea move for Wilson, and so his doorway to the elite gets slammed in his face. A shame.
Winner: Maurizio Sarri
Sarri is a very demanding coach. And one could argue that there is a reason for this, and that the end results justify his approach. But part of the reason the Higuain transfer hasn’t happened yet is that Chelsea’s director Marina Granovskaia isn’t fond of the mood, considering that the fees talked about (anywhere from 36 to 50 million euros) are too much for a striker who has just turned 31. Thus, should Sarri get his man, it will represent a huge statement from the Chelsea heirarchy, a massive vote of confidence for Sarri’s judgement and decision-making power – and that would certainly be great for the Italian.
Loser: Chelsea
Yeah, that’s right. Above all else, how can Chelsea be a winner in this? Sure, short-term they may get the goals they need to, what, secure fourth place? They could do that without signing a 31 year old striker for a huge fee and running risk of Higuain becoming another Fernando Torres or worse, Andriy Shevchenko. Moreover, all the negatives with regards to how the move further signals the marginalisation of the genuinely exceptional young talent coming out of the Chelsea youth academy are too much to ignore. This isn’t 2016 (when Sarri last worked with the Argentine) there are better solutions to Chelsea’s striking problem than Gonzalo Higuain.
The post The winners and losers if Chelsea actually sign Gonzalo Higuain appeared first on Squawka News.
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