Fair to say, things are going rather well for Chelsea right now.
On Sunday, despite being 2-0 down inside 11 minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Blues fought back to beat fierce rivals Spurs 4-2 in some style.
Jadon Sancho’s stunning strike got the comeback started and then Enzo Fernández lashed home the go-ahead goal from the edge of the area, with Cole Palmer also converting a pair of penalties, the second of which was an outrageous, audacious Panenka that capped off a memorable comeback.
Enzo Maresca continues to insist Chelsea are not in the title race, but the Blues are now clear of both Manchester City and Arsenal in second, a mere four points adrift league-leaders Liverpool, albeit having played a game more.
They will be seeking a fifth successive Premier League victory when West London rivals Brentford visit Stamford Bridge next Sunday and, with this followed by games against Everton, Fulham, Ipswich, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and then Wolves, Chelsea appear likely to be hanging around the title conversation a little while longer.
Chelsea's excessive spending on forward players
Since Todd Boehly, José E. Feliciano and Behdad Eghbali purchased Chelsea from Roman Abramovich in the summer of 2022 for a reported £4.25bn, the club have been rather active in the transfer market haven’t they?
Since July 2022, a total of 39 senior players have arrived at the club, costing in excess of £1bn in transfer fees.
When looking at attackers alone, the Blues currently have nine in their first-team squad, acquired for £347m.
Cole Palmer
£42.5m
João Félix
£45m
Mykhailo Mudryk
£62m
Pedro Neto
£54m
Noni Madueke
£28.5m
Jadon Sancho
Loan + £25m
Christopher Nkunku
£53m
Marc Guiu
£5m
Nicolas Jackson
£32m
First-choice centre-forward Nicolas Jackson was much maligned last season, but still scored 17 goals in all competitions, with Rúben Díaz of Opta’s The Analyst arguing that his first campaign at Stamford Bridge “has actually been a success”.
Approaching the midway point of this campaign, Jackson has taken his game to another level, netting eight times in the Premier League already, leading to wide-spread praise of the Senegalese international, including from Sean Walsh of Goal, who asserted he is now “London’s best striker”.
So, does Jackson’s impressive form mean Chelsea won’t dip into the market for a striker in 2025? No, almost certainly not.
Chelsea looking at Nicolas Jackson rival in 2025
According to a report from journalist Graeme Bailey, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea all remain interested in Dušan Vlahović.
Bailey claims Juventus may be forced to sell in the near future, struggling to pay his £200k-per-week wages, while his contract expires in June 2026 meaning, if he cannot agree a new deal in Turin, next summer would be la Vecchia Signora’s last opportunity to recoup a big fee.
Vlahović has perennially been linked with a move to the Premier League, with Arsenal ‘actively attempting to sign’ the Serbian striker back in January 2022, according to David Ornstein, but instead moved to Juventus from Fiorentina for a reported fee of £63m.
Vlahović has scored 50 goals in 118 appearances for I Bianconeri, on target nine times this season to date, most notably bagging a brace as ten-man Juve fought back from a goal down to defeat RB Leipzig in the Champions League.
Analyst Ben Mattinson described him as an “insane ball-striker” and his second goal at Red Bull Arena emphasises why.
Nevertheless, Vlahović has been heavily criticised for his performances this season, struggling to fit into Thiago Motta’s new style, with his manager saying the striker “must accept criticism” back in September, with Parshva Shah in Goal adding the centre-forward certainly hasn’t “hit the levels expected of him” since swapping Florence for Turin.
So, could a move to West London next summer reignite his career, and how does Vlahović compare to Nicolas Jackson?
Appearances
67
60
Minutes played
4,721
4,709
Goals
30
25
Expected goals
27.5
26
Shots
205
135
Shots on target %
34.1%
48.1%
Shot-creating actions
104
126
Progressive carries
52
96
Take-ons attempted
56
135
Touches
1241
1337
The table underlines that, stylistically, Vlahović and Jackson are very different strikers.
At one end of the scale, the Serbian is a pure-centre-forward, having fewer touches, and significantly fewer dribbles but attempting vastly more shots, leading to him having scored marginally more goals during a near-identical number of minutes.
On the flip side, the Senegalese striker gets involved in build-up play more frequently, hence why he’s attempted an exponentially higher number of dribbles and progressive carries, racking up many more touches as well as shot-creating actions.
Nevertheless, the fact Vlahović and Jackson are so different could be exactly why Chelsea are interested in signing the Juventus front-man, adding an extra dynamic to their already free-scoring forward line.
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