Do Chelsea Need a New Striker in January?

Is a world-class number nine necessary, or do we already have the tools in the squad to fire us to titles?

In the last three matches, Chelsea strikers have scored in back-to-back-to-back games for the first time in a year since we had Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring home and away against AC Milan, with an Armando Broja goal against Wolves sandwiched in between. 

Recently, we’ve seen Nicolas Jackson score against Brighton and Burnley, with a Broja goal against Fulham in between them. 

The team are scoring goals again and it’s fantastic to see our strikers getting in on the act. However, I’m trying not to get carried away as the teams they’ve scored against are not the best and I want to spend the time between now and January seeing whether they can score a healthy volume of goals in our extremely difficult run of fixtures.

This poses the question whether Jackson and Broja are good enough to be Chelsea’s only striking options and do the club need to dip into the transfer market in January to upgrade to a consistent and reliable number nine who can lead the line for years to come. 

Many Chelsea fans will say that a world-class and proven number nine will be the perfect cherry on top of the cake in terms of this squad rebuild. Let’s take a look at the options that I hope the club will be looking at in January. 

Victor Osimhen is the biggest-name striker in the world that is not named Erling Haaland and the Nigerian would be an absolute dream signing for Chelsea. Whether Chelsea (or any club) could pull this signing off remains to be seen. He won’t be leaving Napoli unless stubborn chairman Aurelio Di Laurentiis’ ridiculous valuation is met. I’d imagine that’d be around the £130-150m mark. 

There was a small part of me that thought he might force a move in January over the TikTok scandal from a couple of weeks ago, but he seems to have moved on and has professed his love for the club on social media. He’d be a dream, but I just can’t see it happening. He does clearly have some love for Chelsea though.

Ivan Toney would be my ideal and most realistic option. For me, he is the most suitable for the club and also is the least likely to flop. Buying Premier League-proven quality also completely buys into what Pochettino wants and I’m sure he’d be delighted if we could pull this signing off.

Fabrizio Romano revealed yesterday that Pochettino will have more power and say in our transfer strategy. 

He said: “Important news for Chelsea as Mauricio Pochettino is now going to play a crucial role in deciding on transfers and some players, he will have power, in the past it was not always like this, Chelsea signed players because they wanted to sign them.”

The fact Pochettino said so openly in press conferences over the summer that he wanted experienced and proven Premier League players, tells me that he’ll lobby hard for us to sign Toney in January. 

We’re trying to put in some groundwork right now and hopefully that pays off as we’ll face some strong competition from some other big clubs. It’s important that we don’t put all of our eggs in one basket. 

What happens if he picks Arsenal which is a very realistic scenario? Do we splash the cash Napoli would want for Osimhen? Would we scout another £30m gem? Or would we stick with Broja and Jackson? It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Benjamin Sesko is a more left-field option, but the Slovenian youngster is such a Winstanley type of signing and I mean that in the most positive way possible. Sesko is going to be one of the top strikers in the world and I’d be delighted if Chelsea signed him. 

I mention him as the last of the three strikers listed as I can’t see us buying another young forward. It just wouldn’t make sense as we have Jackson, Broja and Washington all contracted to the club. I’d love to see Sesko in a Chelsea shirt but if we sign a striker, he will surely be nearer his prime years. 

I don’t want to downplay what we already have but I do wonder whether we can rely on what we have for a whole season. I think we can this season, as we’re not in Europe, but I still want to see us buy a striker in January so we can move up the league table, fight for the League and FA Cups, and also get them gelled into the side as quickly as possible.

The simple fact is, we need a consistently class striker to fire us to the top of the table. It’s worth noting that Broja is recovering from an ACL so there are no guarantees he gets back to the required level consistently.

Nico Jackson will be playing at the African Cup of Nations and will miss a chunk of each season, so I don’t think we can always rely on either of our current options. 

I’ve not forgotten about Christopher Nkunku too, who we know is an elite goalscorer but if pre-season is anything to go by, Pochettino doesn’t see him as an out-and-out striker. He sees him as someone who plays just behind the number nine, or as a left forward. Still, I cannot wait to see ‘Christo’ back. It was such a cruel injury.

Broja and Jackson are great players in their own rights, but I still think we’re a striker short of completing a near-perfect squad rebuild and I expect that position to be addressed in January with a big emphasis on Pochettino’s personal preference.

By Will Reyner