By Phillip Dillon
The football world can move extremely fast sometimes.
Six months ago, Gonzalo Higuain was the starting striker for Juventus, scoring 23 goals to help Massimo Allegri’s side to their fourth domestic double in a row.
In July 2018, Juventus signed Cristiano Ronaldo and Higuain was forced out of the club to make way for arguably this generations finest ever player. A key player for two seasons and he was no longer needed, just like that. The Argentinian international was shipped to AC Milan on a season-long loan with a view of a permanent move, this summer, for a fee of €36 million.
The move never really worked out for the 31-year-old. His biggest moment for ‘the Rossoneri’ was missing a penalty and receiving a red card after an outburst at the referee during a 2-0 defeat against his former team, Juve. Higuain went off the pitch in tears of frustration.
However, he may now have the chance of a fresh start under a familiar face.
Maurizio Sarri has reportedly made the decision to link up with Higuain for the second time in his career.
Chelsea are desperately lacking goals, Sarri appears to have lost all confidence in Alvaro Morata and has resorted to playing Eden Hazard up front in recent games. With the Spaniard deemed surplus to requirements, Higuain could be the man to get this Chelsea team scoring again. Higuain struggled in Milan but there is little doubt that he should still possess the ability to excel at a big club.
Despite his struggles at AC, this Milan team is a shadow of the former great sides they once had. The former European giants simply did not have the players to get the best out of one of European football’s most prolific strikers.
Chelsea would be getting a player who has a goalscoring record of nearly a goal every other game for massive clubs like Real Madrid, Napoli and Juventus. Even at 31, one would expect the Argentinian to be amongst the goals if he made the Premier League switch.
Chelsea fans will have a degree of nerves in relation to the Higuain signing. After all, the Blues have a history of signing strikers who have had successful careers up to the point they arrive at Stamford Bridge – Andrey Shevchenko, Fernando Torres, Radamel Falcao and now Alvaro Morata have all failed to score goals on a regular basis for the Londoners.
Higuain, though, has a history of not taking his chances in big games, none bigger than the one-on-one he drilled wide of Manuel Neuer’s goal in the 2014 World Cup final. Pace has never been a big part of his game either. He has relied on using his physicality and hold up play to create goals and his killer instinct in the sox-yard box for most of his career. There will be questions on whether Higuain can adapt to the speed of the English game at his age.
All the same, if history is anything to go by, Sarri is capable of getting the best out of Higuain once again. His deadliest season in front of goal came under Sarri. In 2016, Higuain scored 36 goals in 35 appearances to break the record for the most goals in a Serie A season. The record previously dated back to the 1949/1950 season.
Chelsea’s top 4 hopes will be revived if Higuain can come close to replicating that type of form.
There are few players in the world better than Higuain when he is confident and loved by a teams supporters.
The only other striker who Chelsea were heavily linked to this season was Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson.
Wilson has nine Premier League goals this season but was valued at north of £60m despite having had two long-term knee injuries. Looking at the options are out there, and with Higuain’s previous record with Sarri, the move is certainly worth a gamble.
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