3 reasons why Chelsea should sign Gonzalo Higuain in January
Despite a solid start to the 2018/19 season that has seen them rise back up to the top 4 of the Premier League – for now at least – it’s pretty clear that Chelsea are still missing a couple of pieces that would make them bonafide title contenders again.
Maurizio Sarri has done a great job of re-energizing the Blues, but right now they’re still struggling in front of goal. Realistically, Chelsea haven’t had a top-tier striker to rely on since Diego Costa headed back to Spain last year.
Current reports are linking the Blues with Argentine hitman Gonzalo Higuain – who played under Sarri at Napoli during the 2015/16 season – and despite Higuain being 31 years old and not firing on all cylinders at AC Milan right now, here are 3 reasons why Chelsea should bring the Argentina international aboard in January anyway.
#1 Chelsea’s current strikeforce are badly misfiring
Chelsea have scored 38 Premier League goals thus far this season, and on the face of it, that suggests they don’t have many issues with finding the back of the net. But look a little deeper and you’ll see some serious issues. Firstly, they’ve scored 5 less than their nearest top 6 rival Manchester United, and they’re a massive 18 goals behind the division’s top scorers Manchester City.
The main problem is clearly with their strikers – the Blues can call upon the talents of Spanish international Alvaro Morata and French veteran Olivier Giroud, but neither man has looked anything close to prolific this season; Giroud has one league goal in 16 appearances – admittedly 10 of those have come from the bench – while Morata has 5 in 16.
Those numbers lag way behind Chelsea’s top scorer – attacking midfielder Eden Hazard, who has 10 – but they’re also behind Pedro, another midfielder, who has 6. Even N’Golo Kante, Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have 3 each and Loftus-Cheek has only started one league game!
Simply put, Chelsea cannot rely on the goals of Hazard and his fellow midfielders to make up for the shortcomings of their misfiring striking duo. If they want to really challenge for the title – or ensure they make the top 4 and qualify for next season’s Champions League – then they need someone new, and Higuain could be that answer.