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Chelsea FC show why they need Harry Kane... Thomas Tuchel won’t bridge Man City gap without striker solution
Timo Werner has struggled for goals in his first season at Chelsea
(Getty Images)Just two days after Thomas Tuchel confirmed his interest in Harry Kane, his Chelsea players proved exactly why Roman Abramovich should throw all his financial might behind a move for the wantaway Tottenham striker.
In reality, even the Russian billionaire is unlikely to come up with enough money to convince Daniel Levy to allow his prized asset to move across London.
Manchester City are favourites to land Kane - and that would only heighten Chelsea’s need to recruit a comparably lethal goalscorer if they are to have any chance of rivalling them next season.
Tuchel has stumbled over the line to secure Champions League qualification, but Chelsea’s end-of-season slump has only confirmed the shortcomings that the German did so well to disguise for much of his four-month reign.
Chelsea became the first top-flight team since Everton in 1910-11 to finish in the top four without having a player score 10 or more goals in the League.
“This is a game about results and you can clearly see that we are still improving in the last third, still need to improve a lot,” Tuchel said after Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa.
“We are still a young team and we try to evolve and to make them better, but it has been our story throughout the season. We needed many clean sheets to overcome this lack of precision.”
On the plus side, it is easy to see what Chelsea need to address in Tuchel’s first transfer window this summer. A 30-plus goal-a-season striker would go a long way to making up the 19-point difference to City. The problem is that a City team with the addition of arguably the deadliest finisher in the world is likely to significantly improve on the 86-point benchmark set this season.
There are not many Kanes around, hence why Levy can expect to demand towards £150million, even in a post-Covid transfer market.
Chelsea have spent much of the season trying to identify the world-class forward who could immediately take them to the next level. Erling Haaland is a dream target and, but for his lack of Premier League experience, stands out as the type of acquisition who could turn also-rans into champions. Yet, noises out of Borussia Dortmund sound increasingly confident that they can keep the Norway international for one more season.
Sergio Aguero was another on their radar, but is on the verge of agreeing a move to Barcelona.
Romelu Lukaku may be the most attainable of targets and has an emotional tie to Chelsea, after joining the club as a teenager and then missing out on a return in 2017. He still has admirers at Stamford Bridge and would arrive as a title-winner after spearheading Inter Milan’s Serie A triumph. He would cost in the region of £100m, but would he be able to keep pace with Kane’s numbers?
It is clear what type of forward Tuchel needs: a goal machine; one who is willing to put his head where it hurts; a gambler in the six-yard box. Yet, the question is whether he would make the most of such a player. His most orthodox strikers - Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud - have been largely overlooked since he took charge.
While he has persisted with Timo Werner, Abraham has effectively been pushed towards the exit door. It is hard to imagine how the England striker could have posted worse numbers than the three goals in 26 appearances managed by Werner.
But it is also hard to imagine Tuchel suddenly turning to Abraham in his bid to resolve Chelsea’s impotence ahead of Saturday’s Champions League Final against City.
Tuchel may well feel he can come up with a plan to triumph in Porto, but unless he can find a long-term solution to Chelsea’s problem position, he has little hope of overtaking Pep Guardiola’s champions next season.
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