What Does This Belgian Bring With Him To Chelsea? A Transfer Worth The Money Paid?

Antonio Conte will be taking over at Chelsea, after his Italy side were knocked out of the Euro 2016 tournament on penalties against World Champions Germany. The Blues will want to forget last season and will now look to start fresh under the new Juventus boss. Keeping that in mind, the Premier League giants have been keen on signing some top quality players to replace any under-performing stars or ones who might want to leave Stamford Bridge this summer.

The Italian coach is a master tactician and has made it clear already that he will keep the current stars only if he has a need for them in this plans for the upcoming campaign.

Further, the west London giants just signed a new striker from Ligue 1 giants Marseille, Michy Batshuayi, who might not just be a backup, but a potential long term replacement for Diego Costa.

Reports stated that the former Atletico Madrid man wanted to return home to Spain and the arrival of the 22 year old Belgian international could be an omen on that as well.

The La Liga giants have also gained confidence now that the move is on the cards, as the Brazilian born attacker was not too happy with life in England. Costa was dropped from the Spanish national team, which also would have increased his discontent further.

Batshuayi plays mainly as a center-forward and is a very good finisher, meaning if Eden Hazard and Willian can supply him with good balls into the box, he can convert the chances.

In 51 appearances for the French club in all competitions, he managed to score 24 goals with 9 assists to his name as well. This would mean that he is not just a finisher, but can help create chances for his team-mates as well, which would be a similar role to the one played by Costa.

In case Costa does not leave the club, the two might feature together on the pitch, though that seems highly unlikely and the youngster might be used as a backup option instead.

However, the player is not too strong while going into aerial duels to win the ball and looks sloppy while keeping hold of it as well. He often unnecessarily strays offside, which might be a hindrance in his side’s momentum and Conte will want to help him improve on that.

Also, the attacker does not fall back too many times to help out his defence, which the Italian main-man would be aware about too. Well, the role of a lone striker is not generally the one of tracking back often, though some of the players do it these days.

Conte will be aware about the player’s weaknesses and will surely want to work on them before he goes on to the pitch in a Chelsea shirt. Batshuayi had made a total of 62 league appearances for his former club, scoring 26 times, since joining them back in 2014.