Michy Batshuayi scores own goal, Chelsea get linked with Jamie Vardy
By George Perry
A fringe player scoring an own goal on August 20 is transfer rumour mill gold. So of course the Tuesday banter has Chelsea preparing a bid for Jamie Vardy and selling Michy Batshuayi to Lille.
The last time a Chelsea player scored an acrobatic own goal against a title contender, he went on to become captain. Keep your head up, Michy Batshuayi! Chelsea have bigger plans for you than they do for Jamie Vardy.
Chelsea’s transfer rumours around a new striker settled down once Alvaro Morata signed. With Morata and Batshuayi, Conte has the two-man depth he wants at every position. He also has the tactical flexibility to go with the numerical depth, as Morata, Batshuayi and Eden Hazard create several options for a 3-5-2. Old habits die hard, though. A few lingering Andrea Belotti rumours still popped around, but the chatter shifted to Chelsea’s more-pressing needs at central midfield.
Even with Batshuayi’s own goal against Tottenham, his prospects are much higher this year than last. As Antonio Conte routinely points out, Alvaro Morata has some ways to go towards being physically and tactically ready for all that Conte demands. Morata was visibly worn down by the 70th minute of the last two games.
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Conte needs to bring on Batshuayi not just to waste time or inject fresher legs, but to ensure Chelsea has a potent striker for the full 90 minutes. For the time being, Batshuayi and Morata are Chelsea’s strike tandem, even if they do not share the pitch. This gives Batshuayi regular opportunities to prove himself, although he has done little to make his case so far.
On the other side of the rumours, Jamie Vardy is obviously an exciting player to watch but he is hardly an Antonio Conte player. For starters, Conte would not accept his Red Bull-port-dip lifestyle, which are nearly performance-enhancing drugs for the Leicester man. Such personal habits likely factored into Chelsea’s protracted discussions around Radja Nainggolan, who would have filled a much greater need for Chelsea than Vardy could.
Vardy also has never played in a system as tactically demanding as Conte’s. Alvaro Morata has Real Madrid and Juventus in his pedigree. Vardy has only Leicester. His learning curve under Antonio Conte could swallow the remainder of his career.
One upside to Jamie Vardy is that he is 30 years old, so he would not hinder Tammy Abraham’s future in the squad. Vardy is still one of the quickest strikers in the league, remarkably given his age. However, he does not have the balanced play that Antonio Conte wants out of a centre-forward.
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If, for whatever reason, Chelsea did buy Jamie Vardy then Michy Batshuayi should absolutely leave. Vardy would put Batshuayi right back to where he was last season. Batshuayi is too good a player and person to deserve that. He has not made his path any easier with his performances against Burnley and Tottenham, but neither he nor Chelsea have any reason to call the experiment quits at this point.