Facing the 2023-2024 season, Chelsea is undergoing a major squad overhaul. This is inseparable from Chelsea’s minor performance in the 2022-2023 season. Even though last season Chelsea had changed coaches three times, Chelsea’s performance has not improved. Even Chelsea almost relegated to the Championship division.
Facing the 2023-2024 season, before reshuffling players, Chelsea first made a change of coach. Mauricio Pochettino was recruited to replace Chelsea’s caretaker coach, namely the legend Frank Lampard. Lampard is considered to have failed to bring Chelsea flying high.
There are many players affected by Chelsea’s clearance program. They were sold to other clubs, either fellow English clubs or clubs outside England. Some of the players sold by Chelsea did not perform well. But not all. Some of the players sold by Chelsea have also performed quite well.
Some of the players sold by Chelsea include Mason Mount (to Manchester United), Cesar Azpilicueta (to Atletico Madrid), Kai Havertz (to Arsenal), Kalidou Koulibaly (to Al-Hilal), Edouard Mendy (to Al-Ahli), N’ Golo Kante (Al-Ittihad), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (to AC Milan), Christian Pulisic (to AC Milan), Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang (to Marseille), and others.
One of Chelsea’s weak lines is the front line. Despite Raheem Sterling and the return of Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan, Chelsea’s front line is still worrying. Chelsea need a sharp striker. Therefore Chelsea then recruited two players who play as strikers. The two players in question are the French player from Christopher Nkunku (from RB Leipzig) and the player from Senegal Nicolas Jackson (from Villareal).
The entry of the two new strikers is enough to give hope to Chelsea. From the results of several pre-season matches, Chelsea’s front line is quite promising. In the first pre-season match against Wrexham (20/07), Chelsea won 5-0. In that match Nkunku contributed one goal.
Then in the second pre-season match against Brighton and Hove Albion (23/07), Chelsea won 4-3. In that match Nkunku and Jackson each contributed one goal. Furthermore, in the third pre-season match against Newcastle United (27/07), Chelsea only drew 1-1. But in that match Chelsea took the lead in the 12th minute thanks to Jackson’s goal.
Finally in the fourth pre-season game against Fulham (31/07), Chelsea won 2-0. In that match Nkunku contributed one goal. Of the four Chelsea pre-season matches, Nkunku has contributed three goals. While Jackson contributed two goals.
Nkunku and Jackson did not score in every Chelsea pre-season game. But at least both of them have been able to contribute goals. Even though another Chelsea striker who was at Chelsea before, namely Raheem Sterling, has not provided a single goal. Nkunku and Jackson seemed quite compatible with Chelsea’s game. Even though there are not many strikers who match Chelsea’s game. There were many sharp strikers at the previous club, but after moving to Chelsea, they became blunt automatically. Chelsea is known as the “graveyard” of many sharp strikers.
We remember the case of Fernando Torres. The player nicknamed El Nino is known as a goal-hungry player. But after playing at Chelsea, Torres’ sharpness seemed to disappear. So do many other attackers. A fairly recent case is Timo Werner. Prior to Chelsea, Werner was a sharp striker for RB Leipzig. Chelsea are also trying to hunt for Werner’s signature which is also wanted by several other big clubs.
But after playing at Chelsea, Werner became blunt. Not many goals have come from Werner’s feet or head. The striker who has played successfully at Chelsea is Didier Drogba. The player from Ivory Coast was even able to become the top scorer of the Premier League twice.
Drogba is listed as the sharpest foreign player ever to play at Chelsea. Drogba scored a total of 164 goals with Chelsea. Drogba also had a big hand in bringing Chelsea to 14 trophies. Including 4 EPL (English Premier League) trophies and one Champions League trophy.
So a player who is suitable to play at Chelsea is a typical player like Didier Drogba. And coincidentally, Nkunku and Jackson share a resemblance to Drogba’s style of play. Thus Nkunku and Jackson could potentially follow in Drogba’s footsteps. Nkunku and Jackson could be reaping success with Chelsea. Yes, Nkunku and Jackson are The Blue’s new hope.
ASL
