After the departure of club legend Didier Drogba for the second and final time, Jose Mourinho is looking at a number of candidates to fill out his striking options. Even though Diego Costa acclimatised very quickly to the Premier League and delivered 21 goals in 39 total appearances last season which is not too shabby, his constant hamstring niggles mean that he cannot be relied upon to be available throughout the season. Loic Remy had a reasonable season with 9 goals in 30 appearances with many as a substitute but again he suffered from injury quite badly and may not be too reliable when it comes to injury either.
Given the injury problems with the Frenchman and the Spanish international no wonder the boss it looking at other options. We will have a look at a few of them here…
The most talked about option seems to be Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain who has played under Mourinho before at Real Madrid and he is a proven goal scorer in La Liga and also in Serie A. The Argentinian striker did suffer from a serious back injury while at Madrid but he seems to have put that behind him now. Whether Higuain fancies the Premier League is another matter but given his history with the boss you would have to think there is a pretty good chance of him coming to West London. Chelsea will have to move fairly quickly on this one as Arsenal are rumoured to be very interested in the Napoli striker too.
Radamel Falcao was rumoured to be on his way to Chelsea a number of seasons ago after he hit a hat-trick vs the Blues for Atletico Madrid in the Super Cup where the Champions League winners play the Europa League winners. The Colombian striker did appear in the Premier League last season but with rivals Man United and he could only provide 4 goals in the limited number of appearances he made after coming back from a serious knee injury which kept him out of the World Cup in Brazil. Whether Mourinho thinks Falcao is worth the large loan or transfer fee plus the heavy wage packet remains to be seen.
Mario Mandzukic has built a reputation as one of Europe’s leading strikers in recent years after successful spells in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich and in La Liga with Atletico Madrid. Seemingly the Croatian international is looking to leave La Liga for a new challenge and with Man United being heavily linked to the forward, Jose Mourinho will have to get a move on if he wants to snap up the striker before Louis van Gaal signs him up for the Red Devils as many sources are reporting will happen very soon.
Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez is still the property of Man United but Real Madrid do have the option to sign him permanently although it does not look like that will happen as new manager Rafa Benitez will likely want to sign his own players. The Mexican international is a proven scorer in the Premier League and Chelsea might be able to sign him from United as the two sides have historically managed to do business together. Jose could do a lot worse than signing Hernandez but he is unlikely to be happy with another role coming off the bench as he has had to put up with that in recent seasons wherever he has played.
The long-shot to fill out Chelsea’s striking positions is Patrick Bamford who while on loan led Middlesbrough to the Championship Play-off finals but could not lead them back into the Premier League. Bamford is a proven scorer in the English 2nd tier but whether he can raise his game to deliver in the Premier League is a big question and historically Chelsea have not placed much faith in youth although that might be beginning to change with the recent playing of youngsters like Loftus-Cheek and others.
Well there are a few candidates for the important 2nd striker position with Chelsea and if money is no object and the player is happy to fight it out with Diego Costa for playing time I think you would have to go for Gonzalo Higuain as the first choice with Mario Mandzukic a close 2nd choice. Who would you like to see Chelsea sign?