Chelsea weigh up move for “generational” £60m star

It’s been a hectic summer for Chelsea so far this year.

Instead of enjoying some time off and getting themselves ready for an intense Premier League campaign next season, the Blues have been fighting their corner in the Club World Cup.

Enzo Maresca’s men might have stumbled somewhat against Flamengo on Friday, but in the small hours of Wednesday morning, they bounced back with a 3-0 win against ES Tunis.

More importantly, the game also saw summer signing Liam Delap open his account for the club, and if recent reports are to be believed, the club could be looking at someone who’d be a great teammate for the Englishman.

Chelsea target attacking reinforcements

With Chelsea looking to improve on their fourth-place finish in the Premier League next season, it’s not been a surprise to see them linked with a host of attacking stars in recent weeks, such as Hugo Ekitiké and even Victor Osimhen.

The former managed to rack up a tally of 34 goal involvements in 48 games this season and would reportedly cost around £84m, while the latter managed to amass a haul of 45 goal involvements in 41 games and could cost around £60m.

However, as brilliant as they would be for the Blues, they’re both centre-forwards, so it would be hard to describe either of their potential arrivals as good news for Delap, unlike with Alejandro Garnacho.

Yes, according to a recent report from the Telegraph, Chelsea could still make a push to sign the Manchester United star this summer.

The report claims that the West Londoners are now ‘weighing up the possibility’ of signing the Argentine international while sending Christopher Nkunku the other way in a swap deal.

We say ‘sort of’ swap deal, as the report claims the pair moving in opposite directions would be handled as separate deals, meaning a fee would have to be paid for the winger, who the Red Devils value at £60m.

It could be a complicated and costly transfer to get over the line, but given Garnacho’s potential and ability, it might be one worth pursuing, especially as he could be a great signing for Delap.

Why Garnacho would be a great signing for Delap

Okay, there are two main reasons why Garnacho could be a great signing and teammate for Delap at Chelsea, and the first relates to his output.

Even though the United ace is far from being the finished product and can certainly be a little frustrating at times, his raw output is actually quite impressive, especially for someone his age.

For example, in 58 appearances this season, totalling just 3568 minutes, the “generational” talent, as dubbed by Statman Dave, managed to score 11 goals and provide ten assists for a pretty rubbish Red Devils side.

That comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 2.76 games, or one every 169.90 minutes, which is actually better than some of the Blues’ better wing options, like Pedro Neto, were able to manage.

So, just imagine how effective the former Ipswich Town gem could be with someone able to produce those numbers in a dysfunctional team to his left.

The second reason the Madrid-born ace would be a great teammate for the Englishman is that he is also a young, developing player, so in theory, they could develop alongside one another, learn each other’s game and hopefully reach their respective peaks at near enough the same time, in turn helping the squad as a whole.

Ultimately, signing Garnacho might not be a popular decision to start with, but he’s shown that in the right environment, he can thrive, and with an exciting, capable striker like Delap next to him, he could become exceptional.

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