Chelsea pursuing deal to sign “electric” £40m star

It is nearly time for Chelsea to return to motion.

The Blues will very a lot bear a truncated pre-season schedule, having gained the Membership World Cup on 13 July, surprisingly defeating Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 within the remaining in New Jersey.

Thus, Enzo Maresca’s group could have simply two pre-season fixtures earlier than their Premier League opener, welcoming Bayer Leverkusen to Stamford Bridge on Friday evening, earlier than taking over AC Milan in West London on Sunday.

Earlier than then, will the Blues proceed to make extra signings?

Chelsea’s seek for much more attacking expertise

Honest to say, Maresca has loads of attacking choices at his disposal.

Estêvão Willian, Jamie Gittens, João Pedro, and Liam Delap have all already arrived this summer season, however the Blues are removed from carried out but, with probably two new forwards on their manner.

First, as reported by James Olley of ESPN, Chelsea are near signing Xavi Simons from RB Leipzig for a reported price of €50m (round £44m), with the Dutchman desperate to make the transfer.

Meantime, as reported by Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea are nonetheless pursuing Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho, including that “no talks” have begun simply but, however the Argentine is “eager” on the transfer.

Elsewhere, Romano notes that the switch is “not anticipated to be imminent” however that Garanacho is prioritising a transfer to Chelsea, with the Blues focussing on outgoings for now.

Garnacho was informed to discover a new membership by supervisor Rúben Amorim again in Might. At the moment a part of Man United’s notorious ‘bomb squad’, not with the first-team squad within the US, fairly left behind at Carrington, alongside fellow outcasts Jadon Sancho, Antony, and Tyrell Malacia.

Only a few weeks in the past, it was reported that Man United valued Garnacho at £70m. Nonetheless, now that it is public information he has been solid apart, James Ducker of The Telegraph believes he’s out there for £40m, with Chelsea in pole place to snap him up.

What Alejandro Garnacho would convey to Chelsea

In the beginning of the window, Jacob Steinberg of the Guardian reported that Chelsea are ‘priori­tising the addition’ of a right-footed left-winger, with Garnacho very a lot their prime goal for this function.

​​​​​His performances for Manchester United have actually caught the attention, with Statman Dave labelling him one of many two “brightest younger abilities on the planet” as just lately as October, alongside Lamine Yamal, which is excessive reward certainly.

Elsewhere, Kurosh Moghtader of Complete Soccer Evaluation labels him a ‘dependable attacking outlet’ who nonetheless has ‘room for enchancment’, with Andy Mitten of The Athletic believing his ‘work fee’ and ending have each acquired higher in latest instances.

When seeking to evaluate Garnacho to a former Chelsea participant of the not-too-distant previous, he’s stylistically most just like Joe Cole.

Like Garnacho, Cole arrived from a Premier League rival as a 22-year-old again in 2003, particularly West Ham United, having come by means of the Hammers’ academy, and made fairly an affect throughout his seven seasons at Stamford Bridge.

In Chelsea blue, Cole made 282 appearances, scoring 39 targets and registering 47 assists, profitable three Premier League titles, two FA Cups, and the EFL Cup.

At his greatest, Tom Mason of The Guardian believes Cole was ‘breathtaking’, praising his ‘creativity, aptitude, technical capacity and imaginative and prescient’, including that he was ‘at all times prepared to obtain a cross and tackle the accountability’.

Meantime, Sam Wallace of the Impartial heralds his ‘silky contact’, noting that his greatest years got here below José Mourinho when deployed as a left-winger in a ‘clearly outlined’ function.

Effectively, in Maresca’s present set-up, Garnacho, who was hailed as “electrical” by Statman Dave, might actually thrive in an identical manner.

So, let’s assess how Cole at West Ham and Garnacho at Manchester United evaluate to 1 one other.

Because the desk paperwork, when evaluating Garnacho of the current day to Cole simply earlier than his transfer to Chelsea, the Englishman was extra skilled, however the Argentine had produced a higher output by way of targets and assists.

Cole arrived in the summertime of 2003 as a part of Roman Abramovich’s first spending spree, alongside Claude Makélélé, Hernán Crespo, Adrian Mutu, Juan Sebastián Verón, Scott Parker, Glen Johnson, Alexey Smertin, Geremi, Wayne Bridge, Damien Duff, and lots of, many others.

Effectively, 22 years on, Chelsea are adopting an identical strategy within the switch market, and all out there proof means that Garnacho might thrive in an identical manner.