Chelsea have finally brought in the striker that was top of Maurizio Sarri’s wish-list.

Gonzalo Higuain arrived at Stamford Bridge this week after completing his loan deal from Juventus. According to BBC Sport, The Blues can sign the hitman permanently in the summer for £31.3m if he’s a success in London during the next six months.

So what does the Argentine international need to do to become a success?

It’s quite simple really, the thirty-one year old needs to bang in plenty of goals.

Chelsea’s main issues this season has come through a distinct lack of goals, The Blues have the worst scoring record out of the top six sides.

Between them Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata have scored just five Premier League goals in this current campaign. That’s not good enough if you want to be Chelsea’s main striker; especially when you have the likes of Eden Hazard, Willian and Pedro supplying the ammunition.

Now if you look at Higuain’s CV then you’ll see that he’s a man that likes to hit the back of the net.

In 423 league appearances, Gonzalo has scored 237 goals. That works out better than a goal every other game.

His goalscoring prowess includes scoring runs in his homeland, in Spain and in Italy. The attacker is also known to be a player that can strike in the biggest of encounters, although his powers failed him during the 2014 World Cup final.

His most successful goalscoring season came in 2015-16. That was the only year Higuian and Sarri worked together at Napoli, with the forward grabbing thirty-six Serie A goals in thirty-five games.

That suggests that Maurizio is the manager that can get the best out of Gonzalo Higuain.

But the goals seem to have dried up this term for the hitman. He spent the first half of the season at the San Siro with AC Milan and he’s only managed to score six times in fifteen league outings. That’s just one more goal than the much maligned Morata’s managed in the Premier Leagues this season.

Has the veteran frontman peaked?

Higuain will also have to come in and prove he’s a team player. While Giroud hasn’t been much of a goalscorer at Chelsea, the French World Cup winner is an incredible link-up man. His ability to hold the ball up, play in other creative stars and win aerial duels has helped get the most out of club maestro Hazard.

El Pipita has to become The Blues focal point in attack.

Does the Argentine have the all-round style to score the goals and get the best out of Hazard?

That’s a big question!

When Higuain walked out on Maurizio Sarri and Napoli, the Italian coach would say (Via Fox Sport Asia):

“For a while I didn’t hear from him and, to be honest, I didn’t want to hear from him. It’s like when your son makes you angry: For a few days you feel like tearing into him, but at the end of the day he remains your son.”

That shows you that Sarri has a lot of faith and love for Gonzalo. I just hope the deal to bring him to Stamford Bridge isn’t just a sentimental one.

Chelsea fans have started to question Sarri’s stubbornness when it comes to tactics and one of the first players to come under fire has been fellow former Napoli man Jorginho. It’s risky to then go out and double down on your beliefs and bring in another former player.

Gonzalo Higuain has to hit the ground running and start scoring goals for his new club. He’s been brought in to help the team get back into the Champions League, if he can’t do that then his signing won’t have worked out and Maurizio will be under extreme pressure.

At least Chelsea number two Gianfranco Zola seems to believe that the striker will get the goals needed at The Bridge:

Zola on Higuain pressure: “I am sure there’s a lot of expectations but I am also sure that Gonzalo is used to it. He has played for big clubs Real Madrid, Juventus and Napoli. He has produced big numbers everywhere he has been. This isn’t a team that’s desperate [for him]” #CFC

— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) January 25, 2019

Chelsea’s faithful will be hoping that the forward has the appetite to prove himself in the Premier League!

Posted on January 25th, 2019 by scott
Filed under: Article