Chelsea: Gonzalo Higuain makes strongest case yet for Tammy Abraham

Gonzalo Higuain ended his Premier League half-season on his lowest note yet. Chelsea cannot sell Tammy Abraham to Aston Villa under any circumstances.

Despite Chelsea having more purpose to their possession and passing through the first half than at most points this season, Gonzalo Higuain was barely involved in any aspect of the play: not in build up, not in hold up, not in anything resembling a final or finishing touch. Then again, those two aspects are probably related. The 4-2-3-1 is a dynamic, pouncing formation that turns the opponent’s momentum against them over large swaths of the pitch. The 4-3-3, on the other hand, is static and confined. Odd that Maurizio Sarri would do this to a player who knows his system so well, not odd that it went as it did.

While Gonzalo Higuain was exploring the bottom of the trough, Michy Batshuayi scored a brace for Crystal Palace. That brought him up to five Premier League goals in the second-half of the season: the same amount as Higuain in about 300 fewer minutes. The previous day, Tammy Abraham scored his 26th goal for Aston Villa.

After Sunday’s game, The Telegraph reported Aston Villa will offer £25 million for Abraham if they win promotion to the Premier League. Chelsea should make an immediate, desperate counter-offer: they should pay £25 million just to ensure Aston Villa sends him back.

Higuain’s day at the King Power included one of his more preposterous moments. At the end of the first half he was just outside Leicester’s six yard box, well clear of any defenders when the ball came to his feet. With a swoop of his leg, he sent the ball many yards wide of the net. If only David Luiz could so reliably send the ball away from danger in front of his own net, his extension might be good news.

Worse than his howler, though, was his body language throughout the game. Whenever the ball or the play went past him he threw his arms down in resignation and sloughed off. At one point he successfully played the ball through, but thought he didn’t. Ruben Loftus-Cheek picked it up and kept the play going, but Higuain was yelling at him as if it wasn’t, and as if it was Loftus-Cheek’s fault.

Higuain’s body language was unusual, but not unfamiliar. It very much mirrored Maurizio Sarri’s. Like football father, like football son.

Watching Maurizio Sarri on the touchline provides one more indication of how out of his depth he is at Chelsea, and his minimal grip on the locker room.

Shout, shout, gesticulate, turn back, throw arms down in exasperation, say something to Gianfranco Zola. Maybe scribble a note. Repeat.

Higuain evinced the same frustration and impotence at Leicester City. What he was doing wasn’t working, that was all he had, so he vented either to the football gods or his teammates. Both grew to ignore him rather quickly.

This is a useful place to remind you of what you, loyal reader, already know and surely are already thinking: We called this. Particularly my colleague Hugo Amaya. All of it. Every last morsel.

Perhaps Sarri was the target of Higuain’s frustration. After all, Sarri was the one who pushed for Higuain to come to a league and team he is very much unsuited for. Higuain’s struggles go back to Maurizio Sarri’s “2015 called, they want their Napoli back” approach to squad building.

Chelsea have two young, capable strikers fully registered and under contract with the club: Michy Batshuayi and Tammy Abraham. If the transfer ban is upheld, these two should be the core striker partnership next season, with Olivier Giroud in a supporting role that will be worth him staying. If Giroud thinks he can compete with these two for a spot in the best XI, let him. Neither his age nor Tammy Abraham’s should determine his fate.

Alvaro Morata’s detractors pointed to his dejected movements around the pitch as well as his inconsistent production as the two reasons for him to leave. In his place, the Blues brought in someone even more petulant (he has the coach’s favour and he still acts like this) who scored the same number of goals as Morata scored in about the same amount of time. That is the same amount scored in the same league with a worse team by a striker who Maurizio Sarri decided after a few days of preseason had no place in Sarriball.

If John Terry is hoping for another season of coaching Tammy Abraham, he will have to come to Chelsea to get it. Chelsea cannot afford to sell Abraham to Aston Villa, and they cannot afford another season of Maurizio Sarri turning to “his” players.

The Blues have options at striker. They simply have to keep who is theirs and return the rest.