Chelsea have been told what it will take to sign a Premier League star for manager Enzo Maresca, and it is a price the London side are apparently willing to pay for his services.
Chelsea recruitment criticised amid bad run of form
Maresca has guided the Blues to just three wins from their last 10 games in all competitions, with Chelsea enduring a mid-season slump in form after what was a very bright start to life under Pep Guardiola’s ex-protege.
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The west Londoners could have to break their transfer record.
Maresca isn’t exactly helped by injuries to Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu – his only natural centre-forward options – who are now set for a lengthy spell on the treatment table.
“Nico will be out until the international break, probably available after that,” said Maresca on Jackson’s injury.
“We knew that it was a muscular problem, but we did not know how important it was because his reaction was quite good, we did not think it was a big injury. Unfortunately, he had a scan a few days ago, and it is an important one, it will be around eight to six weeks.”
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Chelsea’s next five Premier League fixtures |
Date |
|---|---|
|
Aston Villa (away) |
February 22nd |
|
Southampton (home) |
February 25th |
|
Leicester City (home) |
March 9th |
|
Arsenal (away) |
March 16th |
|
Tottenham (home) |
April 2nd |
Guiu could be facing “months” out injured as well, meaning Chelsea have just Christopher Nkunku in that position as a makeshift choice for the foreseeable future.
Winger Noni Madueke was also forced off with a hamstring problem in their 3-0 defeat away to Brighton last Friday, with Maresca then confirming that the Dutchman would be out for a while.
Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi-Mikel is among the pundits to criticise their recruitment policy in light of their injuries and poor form, questoning why they didn’t bring in a world-class marksman last summer.
“You can talk about it, the recruitment process that I’ve been talking about the whole time – Paul Winstanley [Chelsea co-sporting director], I know the guy,” Mikel said on his Obi One podcast.
“Smart guy, clever guy. I’ve spoken to him a few times. Sounds bright, very, very bright guy. Knows his job. But I just think that the recruitment process in the summer, it wasn’t good enough, which I talked about.
“And a lot of Chelsea fans said, no, no, you just want Victor Osimhen at the club because he’s your friend – no he’s not. We needed a striker. We needed another goalkeeper, another top goalkeeper.”
Brighton set £66m price tag for Mitoma with Chelsea stance shared
According to CaughtOffside, they plan to remedy their decisions not to bring in a quality new attacker or two over the last couple of transfer windows.
Brighton star Kaoru Mitoma is one of their apparent targets, with the Seagulls set to demand around £66 million to sell the Japan international, who’s seriously impressed in the last two campaigns, being called “special” and “Messi-like” after his stunning goal against the Blues last week.
While Fabian Hurzeler’s side are not keen on losing their star attacker, it is reported that they’d reluctantly do a deal at that price, with Chelsea prepared to pay Brighton’s valuation for Mitoma.
The 27-year-old boasts seven goals and three assists across 28 appearances in all competitions this season, and his most recent strike actually came against Chelsea in their 3-0 battering of Maresca’s side.
