Maurizio Sarri-Higuain reunion could be the end of scarcity of goals at Chelsea
It was on the 14th of July, last year when Maurizio Sarri was announced as the new Chelsea manager. With the arrival of the Italian tactician, the Blues kicked off the season with a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Premier League winners, Manchester City. Since then, Sarri's men went on till November without tasting even a single defeat, with Eden Hazard being their standout player and providing a staggering number of goals in the run.
However, things are not the same as they were when the 60-year-old manager took charge of Stamford Bridge. With the turn of the calendar, the Blues find them on the fourth spot of the EPL table, 10 points adrift from the leaders, Liverpool. While Chelsea's midfield and the defence have been providing laudable performances over the recent past, their attack has been rather dull.
Chelsea have the second best defensive record in the Premier League this term. On the other hand, they also have the worst attacking stats among the top-six sides - scoring the least with just 38 goals scored so far.
If multiple sources are to believed, Sarri is willing to reunite with his former player, Gonzalo Higuain. Alvaro Morata is still waiting to come out of his misery, and Olivier Giroud can't score enough to give them the EPL title. Hence, Sarri needs someone to lead the attack for the Blues, and he may have chosen Higuain, who himself needs a revival to his career after seeing a downfall since moving to AC Milan on a loan deal.
There was a time when the Argentine forward scored a record-breaking 36 goals for Maurizio Sarri's Napoli.
With the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo in Turin, Juventus opened the gates for Higuain, as he was sent out to AC Milan as part of a loan deal. Since then, the 31-year-old has scored just 8 goals in the 20 appearances made so far. Things are not looking well for the striker in the red and black stripes as has the same number of red cards as his goals in the past ten games - one each.
With the forward moving closer towards the latter stages of his career, it would be unreasonable to expect fancy dribbles and pacy outbursts from the Argentine. However, his clinical finishing doesn't seem to be leaving him any soon - something which Chelsea FC desperately needs to save the Sarri-Ball at the Stamford Bridge.
Gonzalo Higuain has maintained laudable stats for each of his former sides - River Plate, Real Madrid, Napoli, and Juventus, respectively. However, his short tenure with AC Milan hasn't been rather impactful as the Rossoneri sit on the fifth spot of the Serie A table and are already out of the Europa League.
Under the former-boss Maurizio Sarri, the Argentine had one of the best seasons of his footballing career as he scored 38 goals and provided 4 assists in just 42 appearances before switching to Juventus in 2016.
With the attacking mindset of Maurizio Sarri and the ability of his squad, the Blues only need a striker who can convert the chances, created by the midfield, into match-winning goals. The arrival of Gonzalo Higuain to Chelsea would benefit both the parties as the latter doesn't have many options to look for, considering this is January window.
On the other hand, a reunion with Sarri would revive Higuain's goal-scoring form the Italian tactician awaits the arrival of a clinical finisher of the Argentine's abilities.
With his former manager and teammate (Jorginho), the 31-year-old centre-forward would settle quickly in the Chelsea squad and would thrive to return to his customary goalscoring form. Maurizio Sarri knows how to get the best out of his players.
It could be expected that Gonzalo Higuain would end the scarcity of goals at the Stamford Bridge and the Sarri-Ball would gain its usual dominant momentum.