Former Chelsea defender Mario Melchiot told TalkSport that he was speaking to Todd Boehly and other Chelsea officials last night in Dortmund about the need for a striker.
Boehly, according to Melchiot, said “we already know” in reference to needing a striker.
Chelsea fans will be slightly confused as the club have pre agreed a deal to sign Christopher Nkunku, who can operate up front and has much more clinical finishing than Kai Havertz.
Despite that, he is not an out and out number nine, neither is Joao Felix, who you would expect Chelsea to try and buy next summer or at least retain him on another loan with a buy option/obligation to buy.
Chelsea have bigger things to worry about right now, none other than beating Southampton on Saturday but that still doesn’t take away the mystery of the future for Chelsea’s attack. One would hope the new recruitment officials such as Paul Winstanley and Lawrence Stewart will have a co ordinated plan for the summer.
Mario Melchiot: "We had a conversation with some of the people who work at #Chelsea. One of the biggest questions came up [about a striker]. We said, 'Guys…' and they said, 'Yes, we already know'."
— Chels HQ (@Chels_HQ) February 16, 2023
It’s a head scratcher. If they realize we are without a world class #9 then why haven’t they gone after one? Nkunku may be a fine addition, but he shouldn’t be expected to fill this role.
After Lewandowski and Haaland both went elsewhere over the summer (and who can blame them given the turmoil we were in?) perhaps the powers that be decided that there just wasn’t a top-tier option available (after all, Spurs would never sell Kane to us). They appear to have opted instead for Aubameyang as a cheap band-aid rather than blow big money on another mediocre option (like Morata or Higuain in years past), and I guess I can understand if that was their thinking.
But heading into January, with Broja out injured and Auba turning out to be a flop, it makes you wonder what efforts were made to address the #9 dilemma. We heard Vlahovic’s name surface but that now appears to be only a summer possibility. So, maybe the market for #9s was still no better than Aug, but did they ever consider perhaps recalling Lukaku before the January window closed? He may be out of form, but Big Rom has attributes that simply don’t exist in the squad right now—namely, he’s a physically strong target man with the ability to hold the ball up with his back to goal as well as provide a serious aerial threat. I’d argue that even if the guy isn’t putting the ball in the net, he’d provide a better foil for either Felix or Havertz (at the 10) than anyone else currently in the squad. If we already own the guy, why not bring him back as a stop-gap (and with the outside possibility that he rediscovers some form and increases his re-sale value)?
look Lukaku himself wont want to be back or used as a scape goat in situation like this as the are not even match made from heaven. Chelsea would have just go 4 option like players who are proven goal scorers e.g Toney (Brendfort) who may be ready 4 upgrade, etc to solve this dept/area.