Former Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has questioned the fitness of Gonzalo Higuain after the striker completed his loan move to Stamford Bridge.
Higuain has joined Chelsea on loan from Juventus until the end of the season with the option to extend the deal by a further year or buy the Argentinian for £31m.
Why is there concern over Higuain’s fitness? Five key things to know…
- AC Milan signed Higuain on loan at the beginning of the current campaign following Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Juventus.
- Higuain scored just six times in 15 Serie A appearances for Milan, raising questions about his condition.
- His Milan loan has now been cut short and the 31-year-old has joined Chelsea until the end of the season.
- Chelsea’s strikers, Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata, have struggled for goals over the last two seasons, leading to the acquisition of Higuain.
- But Higuain has found the net 22 times in Serie A since the beginning of 2017/18, fewer than the 24 he managed in 2016/17 alone.
Morata – who is tipped to leave Chelsea this month – and Giroud have scored just six Premier League goals between them this term. As a result, Maurizio Sarri has used Eden Hazard through the middle in recent weeks.
And Hasselbaink, who scored 70 Premier League goals for Chelsea, believes the Blues could have a problem if Higuain lacks fitness.
“We know that he (Higuain) knows where the back of the net is,” Hasselbaink said.
“The only little worry that I have is he’s 31, how fit is he? How fit is he to cope in the Premier League? We know that the Premier League is the hardest league in the world, physically you have to be right.
“If he is physically right, he will score goals. If he’s not he will have a little bit of a problem.”
Schwarzer: Higuain is “Costa-esque”
Chelsea have lacked a consistent goalscorer since Diego Costa scored 20 goals in the Londoners’ 2016/17 title-winning season.
Costa fell out with then-manager Antonio Conte and eventually returned to Atletico Madrid.
But ex-Chelsea goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer believes Higuain could provide the physical presence his former club have lacked since Costa left.
Schwarzer said: “He (Higuain) comes across a little bit Costa-esque in terms of (he) likes a bit of a scrap, likes a bit of getting his body on the line.
“I think that’s something they’ve definitely missed. They haven’t been able to replace that physicality side of the game.”
The post Hasselbaink: Why Gonzalo Higuain might struggle at Chelsea appeared first on Squawka News.
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