We 'signed' Jhon Duran for Chelsea this summer transfer window and he raised striker question

Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran has been linked with a move to Chelsea in recent months, but what could happen if he actually moved to Stamford Bridge?

With Christopher Nkunku's injury problems and Nicolas Jackson still extremely raw, Chelsea have been tipped to sign a new striker in the upcoming summer transfer window. A host of names have been linked with the Blues, most recently Villa's 20-year-old striker Duran.

The Colombian international only made the move to Villa from Chicago Fire in January 2023, but in his short time at the club, he's impressed. Chelsea have stepped up their interest in signing Duran, football.london understands, and have been in contact with the 20-year-old's representatives in recent days over a move to Stamford Bridge this summer.

So, if Duran was to make a move to Chelsea this summer, what could happen? Let's take a look.

Chelsea's 2024/25 season simulated with Jhon Duran

To set up this simulation, we used Football Manager 2024 to move Duran to Chelsea in the summer transfer window before simulating the 2024/25 season. This is how the young striker performed for the Blues.

READ MORE: Jhon Duran Chelsea transfer can give Enzo Maresca's new-look attack a whole different dimension

READ MORE: Jhon Duran and the Benjamin Sesko transfer alternatives Chelsea can sign for Enzo Maresca

With where he is in his career, Duran is quite similar to Nicolas Jackson, and that was visible in their first season together. Both strikers showed great potential, but both missed a bag of big chances. Duran ended the season with 11 goals and two assists in 32 games, but his conversion rate was just 9%.

Both Christopher Nkunku's and Cole Palmer's conversion rate was 20%, showing how clinical the rest of Chelsea's attacking options were. 11 goals is still a decent return though, with only Jackson (13), Nkunku (13), and Palmer (15) scoring more than the Colombian.

At the end of the 2024/25 season, Football Manager 2024 put together an overall best Chelsea XI, based on performances, statistics, and other metrics. This is what it looked like:

Full Chelsea best XI: (4-2-2-2): Petrovic; Gusto, Disasi, Fofana, Chilwell; Fernandez, Caicedo; Sterling, Palmer; Nkunku, Jackson.

Duran missed out on Chelsea's best XI, with Nkunku and Jackson forming the strike partnership most regularly under Enzo Maresca. Raheem Sterling joined Cole Palmer in attack, while Malu Gusto made the best XI, with Reece James missing nearly six months of the season through injury after three separate hamstring injuries.

Despite the addition of Duran to the Chelsea squad, the Blues struggled in the Premier League, with Maresca finding it tough during his first season in the Stamford Bridge dugout. Similarly to last season, the Blues ended strong, but it wasn't enough for a Champions League spot as they finished in seventh place.

16 wins, eight draws, and 14 defeats saw Chelsea end the campaign with 56 points, seven fewer than the 2023/24 season. Like the previous season, Chelsea sat around 10th place until March when the Blues went on a 13-game unbeaten run.

No trophies were won alongside the underwhelming Premier League finish, with Chelsea's best cup run coming in the Europa Conference League where they were knocked out in the semi-finals after a 2-1 defeat to Real Betis. The Blues were eliminated in the third round of both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, losing 1-0 to Arsenal and 2-0 to Fulham respectively.

Overall, FM24 predicts that Duran may be the wrong type of striker for Chelsea this summer, with the Blues potentially in need of a clinical and proven striker rather than a young forward with lots of potential.