Chelsea: The Blues must add a winger in the January transfer window

It’s time for Chelsea to be looking for a winger or two in the January window as injuries there have crippled the Blues’ attack on an ongoing basis.

Ongoing injury woes have devastated the Chelsea attack in recent weeks. Not only has manager Frank Lampard had little opportunity to deploy his two best wingers—Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech—simultaneously, but and now his third true winger option, Callum Hudson-Odoi, is also on the shelf. Lampard can’t deploy any true winger combinations for the time being as he’s plain out of options and the situation needs to be rectified in January.

Against Everton in a goalless performance, Lampard was forced to deploy striker Timo Werner and midfielder Kai Havertz up front to flank Olivier Giroud. Werner has lots of experience as a left-winger, but he is more naturally a striker. Meanwhile, Havertz’s reputation as a versatile player notwithstanding, his best position is in space in the middle of the pitch in a dual No. 8 position.

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Lampard has been stymied early and often this season by chronic muscle injuries to his players, centering most often on wingers. To his credit, the team has been able to work around these absences and beat lesser teams. But in the real tests, the loss of these top wingers will take its toll. The Blues haven’t beaten any top Premier League teams this season, the loss to Wolves being the latest example. The situation has now become dire and club management has to be prepared to bring in a solid winger or two in the January window to ameliorate this situation or risk letting the 2020/21 season slip away.

Wilfried Zaha would be a nice, but expensive, buy from Crystal Palace. His valuation is still a healthy $55 million, though far less than the outrageous supposed transfer demands to secure his services previously. Zaha is still very productive with seven goals and two assists in 10 appearances this season. He’d be a great third or fourth option, but he’s unlikely to take that role. It would require a healthy sum, but Chelsea’s decision in January may just outline its ambitions for this season. Spend in January or risk missing out on even a top four finish if the injury bug continues to plague the squad. Yet, with Palace sitting 11th only five points off the Blues current points total, that may not even be an option—even at an exorbitant fee.

Another option may be Marco Reus from Borussia Dortmund. At a valuation of $27.5 million and at 31 years old, he may just be available at the right price, although Reus has had his own fitness issues. This might be worth an inquiry if he were amenable since Reus has long been a top player and has international experience galore with the German national team, which is also populated by Blues in Werner, Havertz, and Antonio Rudiger. Again though, the problem is a potential back-up role.

Yet, the definitive go-for-broke move, if the club wants to make an ultimate splash, would be to bring in 20-year-old wunderkind, Jadon Sancho. This would be sweet since it would not only upgrade the Blues’ winger situation, but would also break the hearts of the Manchester United faithful. Obviously, that would take a major commitment and the movement out of several current Blues players to fund such a demonstrative and costly acquisition. But it would certainly send a message to the Premier League that Chelsea is in competitions to win.

Whoever it may be—would like to hear readers’ suggestions—Chelsea needs to shore up this position in January. It’s not an option, it’s become a necessity. Absent a solid acquisition or two at winger, the road ahead for Chelsea could be long, difficult and ultimately unrewarding when all is said and done. Suffice it to say, a move—or moves—must be made in January.