Concerningly, Chelsea’s striker situation might force them to return to a €70 million striker.
The situation surrounding Chelsea’s strikers is becoming dire, and the grim reality is beginning to sink in.
In the worst case scenario, Victor Osimhen and Ivan Toney, the best options available, are either too expensive or unwilling to come to us, and neither Nicolas Jackson nor Armando Broja are good enough to be our permanent center forwards.
Although it’s not a pleasant situation to be in, it appears that each week that goes by, the possibility of it coming to pass increases. It might be necessary for us to search further down our list. As TeamTalk notes in their report today, that might entail going back to a target from the summer: Dusan Vlahovic, who joined Juventus just under a year ago and is valued at €70 million by Transfermarkt.
According to the report, the Serbian striker is concerned that Arsenal and Chelsea, two potential suitors, have moved on, decreasing his chances of making a Premier League move. But our perspective is different. While the options available on the market haven’t changed, both clubs’ needs to sign a new striker have only grown.
Roméo Lavia and Moisés Caicedo plot backfire on Chelsea while Liverpool now has the advantage in transfers.
Moisés Caicedo and Roméo Lavia are now a part of the issue, which means Chelsea is going to suffer a transfer blow. Liverpool has every right to feel a little arrogant.
Recall the transfer market victory Chelsea had attained? A few short months prior, Todd Boehly had shocked everyone at Stamford Bridge by “re-hijacking” a move for Moisés Caicedo and, just for kicks, adding Roméo Lavia to the mix.
After some unfortunate injury news, Lavia has yet to make his Chelsea debut as of right now. Though Mauricio Pochettino’s team is currently in 10th place in the Premier League and is closer to the relegation zone than the top four, Caicedo’s fate has been worse in many ways. He has played, but has had very little success in changing the Blues’ fortunes.
Caicedo is expected to be a member of one of the league’s most potent midfields, playing alongside Enzo Fernández—the player whose record for British transfers he eclipsed. Liverpool, on the other hand, appears to have gotten a much better deal, adding Wataru Endō, Ryan Gravenberch, and clubmate Alexis Mac Allister for a small fraction of the cost after signing Szoboszlai.
It makes sense if things take a little longer because Pochettino must naturally adjust to Chelsea at the same time as his new recruits. Lavia and Caicedo could still succeed. However, Boehly’s arrogant move to sign both of them is already backfiring.
The Standard reports that Chelsea will now likely lose out on wonderkid Gabriel Moscardo. The Brazilian was high on the priority list because the Stamford Bridge administration considered him to be “among the best young players in the world in his position,” but PSG now appears to be winning the race for the Corinthians star.
This occurs “midway through Moscardo’s late apprehension regarding Chelsea’s current midfield options.” Along with Conor Gallagher, Lesley Ugochukwu, Carney Chukwuemeka, and Andrey Santos, Pochettino has a list of under-23 players at his disposal who could obstruct the path for any new recruit, including Caicedo and Lavia.
To put it another way, Chelsea has had a spectacular backlash. The army of young players actively deterring other possible signings appears to be the limit of Boehly’s strategy of effectively hoarding young talent.
In the event that the current crop of young players doesn’t pan out, Chelsea won’t have an easy time making changes. That’s because of the Boehly masterstroke, which, ironically, now appears to be a spectacular example of short-termism, saw the majority of them placed on deals of seven years or more.
Lavia, for his part, might already be regretting his decision. While there’s no assurance he wouldn’t have encountered the same injury issues at Liverpool, if he had returned, Chelsea’s midfield would have been overloaded, and there would still have been a clear spot where he would have fit into Jürgen Klopp’s team.
