Chelsea are continuing to hold talks over deals for both Victor Osimhen and Ivan Toney ahead of the transfer window deadline, according to reports.
The club’s late interest in Toney, as reported by Sky Sports News, came as something of a surprise given Chelsea’s long and well documented pursuit of Osimhen, and perhaps suggests a deal for the Napoli forward is proving too difficult to reach.
Adding another striker to the squad would also have significant implications on current Blues attacker Nicolas Jackson, who has been the club’s starting striker for the past season.
Does Jackson deserve to be demoted?
Jackson scored 14 Premier League goals last season, a modest return for someone of his £30m transfer fee and considering it was his debut season in England, but drew criticism for some of the big chances he missed. He squandered the third most in the league last season at 24, according to Premier League data, behind Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez.
There are similarities between all three of those players. Haaland is obviously far clear of both Nunez and Jackson but their shared attributes of pace and power mean they will always get chances to score. Haaland just gets far more of them, thanks to the team he is playing in and his own ability.
There also must be some context behind Jackson’s stats. Three of those goals came against nine-man Spurs, a game in which he also missed several huge opportunities to score.
His finishing still needs a lot of work, and the problem with Jackson is that he is not reliable enough to be counted upon in the big moments. And as Chelsea (hopefully) improve and their expectations grow, that only becomes more important.
But there is a lot to like about Jackson and the only way he is going to get better is by working on his weaknesses in real game situations. So does a new striker make sense?
Toney or Osimhen?
Signing either Toney or Osimhen would essentially be an admission that Jackson is not good enough to be the main man leading the line in every game. Both Toney and Osimhen would command significant playing time, certainly in the case of Osimhen.
The Napoli striker’s form dipped last season, scoring 15 goals in 25 league games, but the campaign before he netted 26 times in 32 league games to help the club to the Serie A title.
He is an obvious signing for Chelsea in the sense that he does a lot of the things that Jackson does so well, while also possessing a greater goalscoring ability. He would almost certainly come in as the new first choice striker with Jackson as back-up.
Toney, however, offers something different. While certainly capable of running in behind and causing problems with his movement, Toney thrives on dropping in deeper to receive the ball, using his strength to hold players off and playing the ball out wide before getting in the box. He is not slow by any means, but lacks the pace of Jackson or Osimhen in behind.
Having different options at the top end of the pitch is not a bad thing, however. Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca is clear in the way he wants to play and approach the game but all three are of the calibre of player to make his system work while all bringing their own individual strengths.
Signing Osimhen would perhaps hamper the development of Jackson but would improve Chelsea as a team immediately, while Toney’s arrival would likely see Jackson and the Brentford man share the load as the main striker. But would adding Toney bring enough benefits to the team to warrant limiting Jackson’s opportunities?
Chelsea’s have a big decision to make, and one which will likely have huge implications on their season.
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