I’ll begin with saying that I’ve made it clear that for what this Chelsea team need, the ideal profile and striker is Victor Osimhen. I don’t need to go over why again because I’ve done that enough. He ticks all the boxes for me.
No other striker we are linked with ticks as many boxes as he does. So if we are deadly serious, then we go all out for him and that’s all we need.
My second choice would be Viktor Gyokeres, because he’s a killer goal scorer and ticks the second most amount of boxes for what we need.
Again, just look at the amount of crosses we were putting in last night to win the Conference League – two of our goals came from crossing the ball. So you want a striker on the end of them. Nicolas Jackson managed to arm one of them in when he was trying to head it in – hence why he’s not a good focal point!
My third choice out of those we are linked with is Liam Delap. I back signing Delap. I rate Delap, I always have done. He ticks a lot of the boxes, but not all of them.
But if we sign Delap, I am happy. I’d ideally sign another striker alongside him if we are going down that route, but in isolation, I like the signing of Delap IF we pull it off. I do really like the player.
Chelsea have often been very timid this season, and what Delap brings is physicality and sh*t-housing – two key traits of Chelsea’s success over the years. People compare him to Diego Costa, and I think that is spot on. He bullies defenders, he puts himself about, he is a menace, a nuisance, a presence up top, and he will run all game and press.
He’s got pace, he likes to run with the ball, he is superb at holding it up and linking up the play, he is tall and big, and he has a very good finish on him. He’s a one touch and bang kind of striker. He will hit it from any angle with either foot and only has one thing in his mind. He backs himself in front of goal.
The only ‘weakness’ at the moment other than of course the fact he is still young, raw, relatively unproven, and not yet the complete striker, is he isn’t yet the best at scoring headers.
He is decent in the air, I remember him winning long balls against Tosin Adarabioyo versus us this season and in fact, he really bullied Tosin that game. But in terms of scoring headers, he needs to improve. I think it’s something that can improve and be coached, for sure, so it doesn’t overly concern me. I think he can get on the end of a lot of crosses and will be a great target to aim for on them.
As I said, he’s still a young and raw player, so I completely understand people calling for proven and experienced instead – you all know I’ve been calling for this too. But I’d not be at all upset if we sign Delap.
He will turn 23-years-old in the winter, and he would arrive with over 100 senior appearances in professional football. Only 39 of those come in the Premier League, but that’s still PL experience even if just a bit.
Check out this analysis comparing Delap and Costa by Connor Holden, it’s really good:
The boy has heart, passion, and he’s a fighter for sure – We absolutely need those strong mentalities, especially leading from the front as a lone striker. Jackson often disappears and shy’s away as a lone striker, and that’s because for me he is not a 9, as I’ve always maintained.
So there’s many pros in my opinion and some cons. Ideally I’d like to see two strikers arrive if it’s Delap as one of them. But then I think we’d have to sell Jackson, as I said, for that to happen. If it’s Osimhen though, he is all you’d need unless Jackson goes.
I personally don’t think it would be a Delap and a Hugo Ekitike, for example. I think it would be more an opportunity signing. Let’s see.
I’ll make my mind up on how I’d feel if it’s just Delap and Jackson up top for us next season, IF that actually happens. I don’t think that would be ideal though.
