Andrea Belotti recuses himself from contention as Chelsea transfer target
By George Perry
Not that Chelsea need another striker, but now they have one fewer transfer target to consider. Andrea Belotti demonstrated one of the easiest ways a player can remove himself from Antonio Conte’s consideration.
Chelsea have two starting-calibre strikers at the club, one more on loan at Borussia Dortmund and a distant long-shot on loan at Swansea City. And if all those are not enough, they have Eden Hazard as a false-nine. If that entire apparatus still dissatisfies Antonio Conte, the Blues will enter the transfer market for a striker for the third consecutive window.
One player who will no longer be on the prospect list, despite being there last summer and – to a lesser extent this January – is Andrea Belotti. The Torino striker is “not interested in moving to a big club if I don’t play or get stuck on the bench. If I move, it’s to be a regular in the first team.” Well.
Antonio Conte does not guarantee any player a spot on the team, let alone in the starting XI, by virtue of him being at the club. After everything last season with Diego Costa, he is certainly not going to allow a striker – of all positions – set the terms of his role. And if a club-record signing can sit the bench in favour of a false-nine, Andrea Belotti can expect no such guarantee.
Belotti chose an interesting time to set his conditions for “a big club.” Torino are in 10th place in Serie A, and came into the international break on a four-game losing streak. They are 14 points out of sixth, giving them mathematical hope but nothing else for the Europa League. They will likely finish between eight and twelfth place for the fifth consecutive season.
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Belotti is also having a down year after his last two seasons put him on Chelsea’s radar. He has only six goals in 22 appearances, having scored 26 last season and 12 in 2015/16. Part of this is down to missing three games in each of two spans with a knee injury this season. But his production rate is down from scoring every 118 minutes last season and every 216 minutes the season prior to scoring one goal every 306 minutes this season. Whereas last season he had twice as many goals as anyone else at Torino, this year he trails Iago Falque in goals scored and both Falque and Adem Ljajic in goal production (goals plus assists).
Chelsea will hopefully not do anything rash or short-sighted (no, never, not Chelsea!) and pursue a striker this summer. Their major offensive need is at left wing, to replace either Pedro or Eden Hazard or both. Behind the wing, the other top priority is a goalkeeper. Between Alvaro Morata, Olivier Giroud, Michy Batshuayi and Tammy Abraham, they can easily meet any demand for centre-forwards.
Hopefully. In theory. We’ll see.
Regardless of who they have, what Antonio Conte needs and what the board buys (three very distinct and rarely overlapping categories) they do not need another dissatisfied striker who arrives with a sense of entitlement over the starting XI. Better players than Andrea Belotti have spent time on the bench and have fought their way in.
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Antonio Conte’s approach to such matters is no secret. Nobody wants to sit the bench, especially after a season like Belotti had last year. But if he thinks his place is decided by last season or the one before or anything other than his effort and output week in and week out, he will find no relief on a Conte team.