Chelsea could poach star attacker away from Barcelona

Chelsea’s transfer rumor mill is seemingly always a revolving door of smokescreens and pipe dreams. Perhaps the best example of this is the brief whispers linking Lionel Messi with the Blues after his shocking Barcelona exit last summer. The fact of the matter is Marina Granovskaia and Co. do an excellent job of keeping the names of their actual transfer targets out of the press. Nevertheless, there comes a time every so often that an opportunity too good to pass up presents itself and the club must jump on it, no matter how obvious the links may be. Lucas Digne’s Everton exit coinciding with Ben Chilwell’s long-term injury is the latest instance, although in the end Chelsea chose not to pursue the left back.

The Blues have been reportedly scouting a number of wingbacks—both left and right—as well as centerbacks and midfielders throughout the last few months. Despite the struggles in attack, there has been little fuss made about potential attacking transfers following the arrival of Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan last window. Regardless, Chelsea is once again being linked with an attacking star due to circumstance, and this time, it’s Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele.

Chelsea could poach Ousmane Dembele away from Barcelona in the near future

The reasons for these specific rumors are obvious. Dembele’s breakout season that triggered his move to the Catalan club occurred at Dortmund under then-manager Thomas Tuchel. Tuchel helped transform the Frenchman into a world class talent and the two enjoyed a particularly close relationship. Furthermore, Dembele is out of a contract this summer. He is refusing to sign another deal at this point in time and his agents are allegedly in talks with some of Europe’s largest clubs regarding a free transfer in the summer. There are a lot of unknowns in this situation, but one thing is clear, whoever signs Dembele is going to have to meet his massive salary demands.

On the surface it seems like another bit of bad business for the Blues in the grand scheme of things. The 24-year-old has played in just 10 games this season after missing the beginning of the campaign through injury. Dembele has developed a reputation as one of the most injury prone players in all of world football. During his time with Barcelona, he’s missed 102 games with a variety of different injuries, playing in just 128 matches since his arrival in summer 2017. Chelsea already has a handful of attackers known amongst fans to miss time often while sidelined with injuries in Callum Hudson-Odoi and Christian Pulisic, so how would Dembele’s arrival help?

The reality is the French international is extremely effective when he has been healthy. He has averaged a goal contribution every 136 minutes in his time in Spain, despite what many consider to be below average play for the young star. Dembele’s best statistical season came in 2016/17 under Tuchel when he stayed healthy and played in 49 games. The German tactician had him firing on all cylinders as he managed 10 goals and 21 assists.

This would be hugely beneficial to a Chelsea team that has needed goal contributions from wingers recently. Christian Pulisic and Willian (both 2019/20) were the last wingers to score 10+ goals in a season. The latter is now gone and the American hasn’t displayed the consistency required to reach those numbers again since that period. Mason Mount looks well on his way to a 10+ goal season with seven goals to date. The problem comes when Tuchel changes formations and Mount’s services are suddenly required again through the middle and not on the wings. The former Dortmund man can play anywhere across the front line, especially on either wing, with no real preference as to which.

Dembele may not be the answer to some of the Blues’ issues, but it may be worth taking a chance on the Frenchman seeing as there is little-to-no risk. Any move for Dembele would presumably be on a free transfer in the summer and if there is any chance Tuchel could resurrect the winger’s career, it’d be well worth the shot. There is still a long way to go between now and this summer though. In the world of transfers, a matter of seconds could completely flip a situation on its head.

Do you think Chelsea should target Dembele? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!