Chelsea transfer rumours: Anthony Gordon and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are not the answers for Thomas Tuchel

The idea that a player’s transfer price can be indicative of their qualities has long been debunked in an age when youth often seems to be the most prized asset in the market. And yet, there are still transactions that can only be met with raised eyebrows and frowns. For the majority, Anthony Gordon possible move to chelsea falls into this category.

Gordon looked like a promising player last season, a young striker who combined prodigious work off the ball with an ability to draw fouls from defenders with his encouraging forward run. However, his end product was far from being one of the best young strikers in the Premier League. In 35 appearances last season, he scored four times and provided two assists, while his combined output of 0.31 goals (xG) and 0.31 assists (xA) per 90 minutes is around half that top English hopefuls in his post last season. But, over time, it was fair to project Gordon as a useful player for a European Union side. Everton’s position.

What he doesn’t look like, given last season, is an international superstar in the making. And yet, this is how he is assessed by both sides. Everton, who have refused to deny publicly or privately that Gordon has made a transfer request, have already rejected a £45million offer for the 21-year-old and yet they may think they have played their game exquisitely with the Blues reportedly ready to return with a £60million offer. Those familiar with Goodison Park speak of a lingering fear that it was a sale in the mold of Wayne Rooney, who joined the France football team. Manchester United in 2004 for the astonishing sum of £27 million.

Of course, there is a significant difference between the two players. When Everton sold Rooney, he had already set Europe on fire at Euro 2004; Gordon had only one encouraging season of play. It’s clear that a young player who has caught the eye of Tottenham and Chelsea has something to offer. Maybe that’s not reflected in the underlying stats. Perhaps the fact that he hasn’t produced at Tottenham squad level hasn’t been taken into account. Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka and Mason Mount, it’s because he’s not on a team that allows him to reach those kinds of heights. Everton, and their manager Frank LampardFrance team leaders, who see him as a safe bet, are pushing to keep him, despite a price tag which, if spent wisely, could bolster the squad to two or three positions.

While it’s easy to argue in favor of Everton selling Gordon, it’s harder to explain why Chelsea should be willing to pay so much for this particular player. Sources close to other targets the Blues have identified on the continent have expressed bewilderment that they could end up paying double the price of a successful player in Ligue 1 or the Bundesliga for a solid starter. a team that was nearly relegated from the English top flight.

CBS Sports sources say Gordon’s pursuit was led by Tuchel. It’s easy to see why any manager would love to work with Gordon, a player whose greatest qualities last season were his pressing and difficult runs. Everton teammates are full of praise for the youngster’s humility and at a club like Chelsea he would likely have the versatility to play in one of the wide attacking or full-back roles.

But Chelsea has (at least for now) a player who meets all of these conditions. In just over 900 Premier League minutes Callum Hudson-Odoi recorded 0.41 xG+xA, often playing as a full-back for Tuchel. It’s been clear for some time that the German wants more from his young homegrown winger, from whom he regularly demands a string of top performances, while injuries have also stunted the development of a player once coveted by Bayern Munich , who is now due to spend next season on loan at Bayer Leverkusen. The same could be said of Christian PulisicAnother natural striker who was deployed deeper by his manager last season.

At a club with an established football back-office, Tuchel may well be challenged to use the players he already has before another £60m is invested by a team that has already taken the lead. spending this summer. Indeed, a few years ago at Stamford Bridge the idea that a head coach could have such an influence on recruitment would have been considered laughable; players endured but managers were disposable. This is no longer the case. President, co-owner, acting sports director and relatively new to the intricacies of the European football market, Todd Boehly fully supports the judgment of his coach.

Similar questions can be asked about the pursuit of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. This is a player that Tuchel has held in very high regard from their time together at Borussia Dortmund and who has found his form significantly at Barcelona after his last spell in the Premier League ended in a failure. In the end, Aubameyang was a player who struggled a lot in the Premier League, with efficiency issues. Arsenal. Perhaps it’s down to Mikel Arteta’s tactical constraints and the ever-changing positions he’s played his club’s captain in.But is spending €25m or more on a 33-year-old who has scored four open play goals in his last 23 English league games a riskier bet than spending more on a player like Jonathan? David or Myron Boadu, who are more than ten years younger? Or, why not abandon Gordon’s quest and invest the funds of these two players in Rafael Leao, the superstar that AC Milan may have to sell to balance their books?

It is debatable whether Aubameyang, Gordon and Raheem Sterling Chelsea’s squad doesn’t represent a major improvement on last season, with Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner gone, Hudson-Odoi and Hakim Ziyech likely to follow them. Equally, it’s uncertain whether this will allow the head coach to build the ideal attacking trio he is looking for.

After 60 Premier League games, Tuchel still doesn’t seem to have found a solution for his forward line. The second half of his term brought exactly as many goals (52, which is not very close to the performance of a world champion team) as the first, but the number of goals conceded doubled, from 17 to 34. This partly reflects the injury problems at the back of the pitch, but also the fact that the Chelsea side have tried to attack more without producing meaningful results. In 60 games, only three players have scored in double figures: Jorginho, by the sheer weight of penalties, and Kai Havertz and Mason Mount, who have scored a goal every three games. It’s too early to assess Sterling’s time at Chelsea, but aside from a flurry of chances against Leeds, he’s come across as a player who has to adapt to complex demands. A criss-crossing, fast-moving frontline might be the utopian ideal at Stamford Bridge, but there are times when players need a fixed point of reference (not that it worked in Lukaku’s case). ).

Of course, something has to happen to shake up a Chelsea attack that falters on the pitch with reserves that don’t want to be there. But it’s fair to wonder if giving Tuchel a chance in all facets of building a forward line is the right course of action, especially considering that, despite the team’s success, he won’t doesn’t seem to have found the right formula yet.