Transfer News:
Chelsea are planning to redeem their status in the transfer market, and are looking to upgrade the quality in their squad after having undergone an underwhelming window last season when they failed to secure most of their primary targets.
With Antonio Conte having left already, they are looking to boost their attacking department and have finalized Gonzalo Higuain as their foremost target in the window. The Argentine forward previously played for the likes of Real Madrid and Napoli too. He was a part of Argentina’s World Cup squad this summer and even started their match against Nigeria.
Higuain has been a solid performer for the Turin-based club, but Juventus might consider offloading the Argentine in order to accommodate space and funds due to their purchase of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Gonzalo Higuain: Player Profile
The forward is extremely prolific and a good finisher and his consistent domestic form are unfortunately always clouded by his underperformance in the national colours. He uses his strength well enough to bully the defenders and holds the ball up to bring the wingers and the midfield runners into play. He lacks quick pace but makes smart runs into the box in order to get at the end of through balls.
His tendency to find passes after dropping down a line means that Higuain is always keen to attack as a unit, and creates a decent number of goal-scoring chances for his teammates. Higuain can thread in a through-ball, distribute the ball to the wing and is aerially strong enough to head the ball in from crosses coming via the flanks. He is dynamic in some sense, as Higuain’s tendency to run directly at the defenders, using his good dribbling skills mean that there is a certain unique dimension to his style of play too.
According to Whoscored stats, he scored 16 goals and recorded 6 assists in 35 Serie A matches last season. The 30-years-old took 2.9 shots on target and even completed 1.5 dribbles per game. In the UEFA Champions League, he scored five goals in 10 appearances and delivered 1.1 key passes in addition to the 1.8 dribbles that he completed too.
Should Chelsea make a move?
Chelsea already have Alvaro Morata, and they roped in Olivier Giroud as the target-man and experienced striker in January. Maurizio Sarri might demand something different from his strikers, that is, the ability to link up play regularly. Higuain might be suitable for that purpose, but Morata is quite young and would be willing to learn under a good coach.
Moreover, Higuain is 30-years-old and has understandably regressed over the past couple of years. His pace has decreased, and will definitely find it difficult to adapt to the hard rigours of the Premier League. However, the nature of the scenarios regarding this move is such that, this saga is bound to be interesting.
