Antonio Conte Chelsea are one of the inform teams in the competition having stitched an 11 game winning streak early this season to open up a 9 point gap at the top of the Premier League table. The manager will be pumped up with the performances of the side who have been able to take all three points even in games that they have not dominated. Conte will hope that they can keep up the good work but will surely jump into the transfer market for additions that can help him cross the line. This might see a few players leave the club in January and one such player who is linked with a loan move to West Ham United is young striker Michy Batshuayi.
The multimillion purchase from Marseille in the summer, Batshuayi is yet to light the league on fire at the Stamford Bridge but he has shown enough promise in his few appearances to warrant a regular place on the bench for the side. He has 3 goals in 12 appearances for Chelsea in all competitions but most of them have come off the bench this season. At 23, he is still at the beginning of his career and the Chelsea manager wants to make sure that he gets enough game time in England to help the side when needed.
A genuine goal scorer, the 23-year-old is a poacher who loves to find himself in dangerous positions in the final third. He is an intelligent player who can adjust to the needs of his team and is a player who can make things happen from nowhere. He is strong and smart with the ball at his feet and is a player who can develop into a top class target man for Chelsea in years to come. But at the moment, he is not getting enough exposure in the top tier of English football to have any kind of an improvement.
But this move can come back to bite Chelsea later this season as Batshuayi remains the only real cover for first choice striker Diego Costa in the squad at the moment. Costa, the current top scorer in the league, has been in sublime for this season and received his fifth booking of the season and that means he will miss the next game for the Blues, so this is the time for Batshuayi to shine. Batshuayi not only provides cover for injuries but also adds dynamism to the squad that can help them out of tough games in the future.
At his age, the Belgian international should get more game time if he stays at Chelsea but the Blues cannot afford to lose him in January and start a search for another striker to fill the void. The January transfer window will not provide the manager with too many options and it is better for the club to stick with Batshuayi till the rest of the season. With Andre Ayew, Diafra Sakho and Andy Carroll already fighting for a place in the starting XI at the Olympic Stadium, Batshuayi is not guaranteed the first team football anyway at West Ham, so making a loan move to the club a bit senseless.
Do you think Conte should let Batshuayi leave and buy another striker in January?