Antonio Conte allowed Bertrand Traore and Loic Remy to leave on loan so they can get more time on the pitch. Apparently, signing Batshuayi is not enough to cover a position which often has 3 if not more options. Diego Costa is doing a great job as he is the leading scorer in the Premier League  and the freshly signed young Belgium international has been decent when given the chance to play. Despite not having to play in any European competition, Chelsea still have a lot of ground to cover. There are many games, none of which will be simple as the Premier League has shown in recent seasons that any team can beat any team on any given day. The teams in the lower part of the PL standings give it their all to beat a giant such as Chelsea and all the others are title contenders so having all the positions covered is a must.

As we said, Chelsea currently has two strikers with very different profiles to cover the attack. While the present lot is looking great and the 3-4-3 formation is working like a charm, Conte is still in search of a couple of players who can offer versatility to his tactics. At the beginning of the season it was rumoured he might play 2 strikers up front and he even did so during the end of some games. Having a third striker could not only give him the option to use the players against the opposition that they are most suited to playing against but also to rest them.

A decent option for Conte is Watford’s Odion Ighalo who has been one of the most dangerous strikers during the past two Premier League seasons. According to Metro, the 27-year-old has become a major interest for both Chelsea and Manchester United who see in Ighalo the perfect solution to provide depth in the goal-scoring department. While the Nigerian is good, he would not take Costa’s spot or that of Ibrahimovic or Martial. He would likely be a substitution Conte could always count on to pose a genuine goal scoring threat. He is very strong in one-on-one battles, he has a great heading technique, he has stamina and he is usually in the right place at the right time. Even with his Watford contract being extended in August 2016, his agent did not want to totally discount the possible move of his player to Stamford Bridge. Ighalo was watched closely by the Blues last season but nothing developed. The bad news is that there is little to no chance of seeing him leave Watford earlier than the summer of 2017. A winter transfer is probably out of the question so it remains to be seen if this move materialises.