With the drama coming out of Paris at the moment it appears a big name player will need to make room for Neymar’s ego. Chelsea should offer to take Edinson Cavani off their hands.
Chelsea should be all in on Edinson Cavani. If Cavani makes his way out of Paris Saint-Germain following his highly-publicized dispute with Neymar, Chelsea should do everything in their power to make sure he lands in west London.
Cavani is a near perfect mould of a striker. And, at age 30, he can offer experience and skill to the team while not clogging up the forward line for players like Tammy Abraham moving forward.
Eventually, Diego Costa will leave Chelsea. Who knows when that will be, but one thing is certain: he will absolutely not wear Chelsea blue again while Antonio Conte is manager. That leaves Conte with only two strikers. Alvaro Morata is a class player and an excellent addition. The other is Michy Batshuayi who, for all his athleticism and charm, seemingly falls off the face of the earth in competitive matches.
This past summer Chelsea chased Fernando Llorente for the same role that Cavani could fill. He would be a second striker when Chelsea move to the 3-5-2, and a replacement for Morata when necessary. He could still easily play 35-40 matches a season for the Blues. And at his age Chelsea will get a good price on him.
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Chelsea also know that PSG need an out here. A player of Cavani’s talent could very possibly be had for £30 million or less, and that is a substantial deal.
Tammy Abraham should be viewed as the next big striker at Chelsea. That said, with Chelsea’s insane “150-200 appearances” rule, he will not get time at Stamford Bridge for several years. He will spend at least one more season out on loan before coming back for good. Whether or not that is right is not an argument we need to have now (it isn’t, I know). But that is the simple truth.
Cavani will be 31 in February. He will spend a year as an important piece of the squad and then continuously smooth over cracks after that. He is excellent in the air and is a fantastic finisher. This dispute with Neymar is out of character. He has always been praised for his team spirit and work ethic.
Chelsea should do whatever they can to get Edinson Cavani on a three-year deal. He will be perfect cover until Tammy Abraham is ready to step up and be Alvaro Morata’s main partner. After that, he could very feasibly be the best third striker in world football.
Manchester United and Manchester City are the two strongest teams in England at the moment. United boast a strike force of Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. City have Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus supported by Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling. Chelsea can compete with those by having Morata, Abraham and Cavani.
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Chelsea would do excellent work by securing Cavani and should move quickly to make it happen, even if it means doing so in January. He is an excellent player and can teach the rest of the Blues a lot in addition to what he can actually do. It would be the best possible move this side of signing Paulo Dybala.