Will Chelsea make a success of this season?
On Thursday, the Blues demolished Djurgårdens in the first leg of their Conference League semi-final, with Jadon Sancho and Noni Madueke both on target in Stockholm, before Nicolas Jackson bagged a quick-fire brace.
Thus, supporters are now pretty certain that their team will be in Wrocław for the final later this month, facing either Real Betis or Fiorentina.
Meantime, in the Premier League, Enzo Maresca’s side are currently fourth, desperate to cling onto the final Champions League spot, ahead of Sunday’s heavyweight meeting with recently crowned champions Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.
Even with the Club World Cup on the horizon this summer, Chelsea are expected to be busy in the transfer market, as has very much been the case since Todd Boehly’s takeover, so could they sign a big-money new striker?
The latest on Chelsea's interest in Viktor Gyökeres
According to a report by Florian Plettenberg of Sky Sports Deutschland, Arsenal are “pushing” to sign Sporting CP striker Viktor Gyökeres, valued at around £60m by the Portuguese giants, with Manchester United, Real Madrid and Chelsea “all in the race”.
The 26-year-old Swede has scored 95 goals in 98 appearances for Sporting, pretty impressive statistics, with a report by David Ornstein and James McNicholas of The Athletic claiming that Gyökeres is expected to be on the move this summer.
Nevertheless, with a high amount of competition for his signature, should Chelsea focus on other targets?
Chelsea's potential new striker
According to a report from Steve Kay of Football Transfers earlier this week, Chelsea ‘have approached’ Aston Villa, enquiring about the possibility of signing Ollie Watkins this summer, adding that the Blues ‘are willing’ to match the Villans’ £60m valuation.
TEAMtalk notes that Watkins has emerged as Chelsea’s number one target, due to concerns about Victor Osimhen’s wage demands, as well as fears that Gyökeres would choose to go elsewhere.
If Villa miss out on Champions League qualification, they may be forced to sell key assets to comply with Profit and Sustainability Rules, hence why Pete O’Rourke of Football Insider believes they’d be looking to cash in on 29-year-old Watkins.
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So, would Watkins be a good signing for Chelsea?
Chelsea's best recent attacking signings
Since Clearlake Capital’s takeover of Chelsea in 2022, they have signed over 40 first-team players, spending in excess of £1bn, many of whom made little impact at Stamford Bridge, some of whom have been swiftly moved on.
Pretty much indisputably, the Blues’ best signing of the Boehly era is Cole Palmer, who, since arriving from Manchester City for £42.5m, has scored 39 goals for the club, named Chelsea’s Player of the Season as well as the PFA Young Player of the Year for 2023/24.
However, let’s analyse the impact made by some of the other members of the forward line.
Pedro Neto
£54m
40
6
7
João Félix
£45m
20
7
2
Omari Kellyman
£19m
Zero
Zero
Zero
Marc Guiu
£5m
13
6
Zero
Jadon Sancho
£25m
36
4
10
Cole Palmer
£42.5m
86
39
25
Nicolas Jackson
£32m
75
29
11
Christopher Nkunku
£50m
56
17
5
Deivid Washington
£17m
3
Zero
Zero
Ângelo
£13m
Zero
Zero
Zero
Diego Moreira
Free
1
Zero
Zero
Mykhailo Mudryk
£89m
73
10
11
Raheem Sterling
£47.5m
81
19
15
Noni Madueke
£28.5
82
20
9
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
£10.3m
21
3
1
David Datro Fofana
£11m
4
Zero
Zero
It would be a major understatement to say that Chelsea have signed a lot of attacking players in the last three seasons, and the table above certainly underlines that Cole Palmer has unquestionably had the biggest impact.
So, why would Watkins be any different?
Well, let’s assess his season statistics to find out.
Goals
15
7th
Goals per 90
0.6
6th
Assists
7
13th
Shots
76
11th
Shots on target
32
8th
Expected goals
14.5
6th
Goal-creating actions
11
31st
Touches in oppo penalty area
153
11
As the table outlines, Watkins is a very well-rounded striker, described by Statman Dave as “clinical”, both a potent goalscorer but also a chance creator too.
The concern about signing him would be the fact he is 29 years old, but the Englishman is showing no signs of slowing down, so could be the striker Chelsea require to go to the next level.
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