Three reasons Chelsea should sign Andrea Belotti on a free transfer

Many Chelsea fans might be familiar with the name Andrea Belotti. The Blues were heavily linked to the Italian under the reign of Antonio Conte when he ripped teams in the Serie A apart for fun at the young age of 23. At the time, he was linked to European giants like Manchester United and Bayern Munich, as well as Italian clubs like Internazionale and AC Milan. But, with a release clause of €100 million and no room for negotiation, none of the teams managed to sign Belotti.

Five years later, Belotti is still at Torino and the only trophy he has won was the Euro 2020 with Italy, where he barely featured. He has single-handedly managed to keep Torino in the Serie A for years and is undoubtedly its best player. Nevertheless, his contract expires this summer and he might finally get the big move he was always destined to make. With a player of his caliber being available on a free transfer, teams across Europe are lining up for his signature. Virtually every team in Europe wants to bolster its front line and will look to sign Belotti, but Chelsea should try and repeat the Thiago Silva free transfer success in his case.

Let’s take a look at the transfer and try to see why it makes sense for Chelsea to sign Belotti:

1. Football

Thomas Tuchel has preferred using a 3-5-2 setup this season, but with both strikers getting injured in the span of a few minutes in the same game, it is not hard to see that the Blues are understaffed in the striker department. For this reason, Kai Havertz may fill in when required, but his best position is as a No. 10 alongside Mason Mount.

The most important reason for Chelsea to sign a player should be football and Belotti is a fantastic footballer. As stated earlier, Belotti has been the one positive in an underwhelming few years for Torino. He is amongst the most underrated—if not the most underrated—striker in all of Europe. Belotti is the kind of striker that many people might refer to as a “complete forward.” He excels in all aspects of the game and has everything in his locker. Strong enough to hold up play? Check. Can drop deep to link-up play? Check. Most importantly, can he score goals? Absolutely.

Talking about statistics, he has averaged more than 10 league goals in each of his seasons since joining Torino. His most notable achievement was scoring 26 goals in one season, which put him on Chelsea’s radar in the first place. However, there is more to his game than just goals. According to fbref, he ranks in the 99th percentile for both shot-creating and goal-creating actions when compared to other forwards. He also created 13 big chances last season, which is level with Mount, who was Chelsea’s leader in the stat showing that he is also a potent creator.

Belotti also brings something to the table that the Blues lack in the absence of Christian Pulisic: the ability to draw fouls in the opposition’s half and win set pieces. Chelsea has already scored 10 goals from set pieces this season, showing that it is dangerous from set plays. However, most of the fouls are won by Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic in deeper positions, which help escape long periods of pressure and take a breather in between plays, but not in setting the Blues up for a potential goalscoring opportunity. Belotti wins 4.53 fouls per 90 minutes though. After winning these fouls, he is also a threat from indirect free kicks.