Since Chelsea seems intent on gambling on a striker rather than buying quality, they should take the cheaper option of Michy Batshuayi over Gonzalo Higuain.
Congratulations to all those who have made appalling miss compilations of Alvaro Morata. He has been all but run out of London. And while it may be worth discussing why any player would want to sign for a team with fans like that, that is a discussion for another day. Today is about who fills the gap.
Since the board is made of a group of individuals who have probably seen a collective 10 football matches start to finish in their lives, they are going with the easiest options. So instead of finding a proven, world class striker who would join Chelsea, they are yet again looking for an aged player that once upon a time had a good season for Maurizio Sarri.
Gonzalo Higuain had a career best season under Sarri all the way back in 2015/2016. Mind, it was not significantly better than his season before (under Rafa Benetiz) or his season after (under Massimiliano Allegri). This season, Higuain has a whopping eight goals in 1,731 minutes. For those keeping track, Morata has nine in 1,498 minutes.
Those two facts alone should be enough for any reasonable fan or member of the board to say “hey you know what this is actually a downgrade if anything”. At best, Sarri simply got Higuain at his peak and now he is a player who just does not add anything that Chelsea did not already have in Morata.
But inaction is seen as a negative and apparently “supporting whoever the manager wants” is an acceptable notion for managers not named Antonio Conte. Best case scenario is that Chelsea only loans Higuain in for six months. Worst case is they actually purchase him and find out that all the numbers are actually true.
If Chelsea is so adamant on taking a risk with a new striker as opposed to finding someone world class, the cheaper option would be Michy Batshuayi.
Now, make no mistake, Batshuayi has not been a goal scorer this season. He very quickly fell out of favor in Valencia and a recall has been talked about for months. But he has the benefit of already being a Chelsea player and of Valencia being very, very weird this season.
So Chelsea could drop cash on Higuain and downgrade from Morata. They could drop a ton of cash on Callum Wilson or Jamie Vardy. Or, if the overall effect is the same, they could just save that cash for another transfer and see if Batshuayi can finally prove himself in the next six months. Batshuayi’s transfer fee cannot get any lower if he fails so it is at least a free gamble for the Blues as opposed to (another) very expensive one.
Of course, the smartest thing the Blues could do is drop a ton of cash at Juventus’ or Inter’s feet and beg for Paulo Dybala or Mauro Icardi. But that will not happen because A: it would be difficult and B: it would make sense.
But this is Chelsea where it is better to drop 150 million on three old strikers who are past it and will not pan out than 150 million on one striker who is a sure bet. At least Batshuayi would be a free risk to take. That alone should be enough for the ever frugal Chelsea board to consider it. Much better than downgrading to an older striker on the promise of one season a few years ago.