What If The Unthinkable Happens At Chelsea? Who Is The Right Man To Spear Head The Team? A Swot Analysis

Diego Costa’s future at Chelsea has been thrown into a bit of a storm recently. The Spaniard had been training alone for the past week, following an argument with the fitness coach and the manager Antonio Conte. And this had come at a point when he was being offered a move to Chinese Super League by Tianjin Quanjian, who were willing to offer wages as high as £30 million a year for Costa’s services.

Following the tiff, Conte decided to leave Costa completely out of the squad for the fixture against Leicester City, instead opting to operate with Eden Hazard as a false No.9 on the night, which also suggests that Michy Batshuayi is also not very highly regarded by the Italian. So, if Costa goes through with a move away from Chelsea, who else could come in and fill his boots at the Stamford Bridge?

According to the Football Whispers index, the likelihood of Costa moving to China is rated at 3.6 out of 5. So how would Chelsea cope with the potential departure of their leading goalscorer this term? Here we draw up a list of potential targets for Chelsea to consider:

Fernando Llorente (Swansea City)

Estimated Wages: £60,000

Contract Expiry: 2018

Having worked with the Spaniard during his time in charge at Juventus, Conte is keen to bring in Llorente to Stamford Bridge on loan in the ongoing transfer window. Football Whispers rate this move at 2.2 out of 5, which is a substantial drop from last week’s likelihood rating of 4.6.

Llorente had been linked with a move to Chelsea well in advance before the bust up between Costa and Conte, as the Blues were on the lookout for more options on the bench to deputize for Costa, considering that Batshuayi hasn’t been able to convince his manager of his abilities. However, the former Athletic Bilbao and Juventus man in no way considered as a long-term replacement.

Having scored only 6 goals so far this term, Llorente isn’t the most prolific option on this list, but it also needs to noted that Swansea as a team have been below par this term and that hasn’t helped the Spaniard’s cause one bit.

Standing at 6ft 4in, Llorente is a daunting presence in the area and has won 56.8% of his aerial duels this term. However, he will, in an overall sense, will be a severe downgrade from Costa.

Mauro Icardi (Inter Milan)

Estimated Wages: £60,000

Contract Expiry: 2021

The 23-year old has been thriving under the pressure of captaincy at Inter Milan and has been in belligerent form this term as well. Having scored 15 goals and assisted a further 7 strikes already this term in 20 appearances, the Argentine, on an average, is involved in a goal every 81 minutes.

Despite his club going through a difficult transition phase, that has seen managers come in and go with some surprising frequency, Icardi hasn’t let all the negativity affect his game and has scored 53 times for the Nerazzurri in the past two and a half seasons.

Statistically speaking, his numbers are almost the same as Costa. He averages 3.6 shots per game to Costa’s 3.1, wins 1.7 aerial duels every 90 minutes compared to the former Atletico forward’s 1.1 and completes 73% of his passes with Costa averaging 74.7% pass success-rate.

New manager Stefano Pioli has gone on record stating that he needs funds to build the Inter team in his own image and given Icardi’s turbulent relationship with the Inter supporters, it might not come as a surprise that he is let go of to generate funds.

Romelu Lukaku (Everton)

Current Wages: £90,000

Contract Expiry: 2019

The former Blues striker was linked with a return to the Stamford Bridge earlier in the summer of 2016, however, a move did not materialize. And now Everton manager Ronald Koeman has said that the club are in negotiations with the Belgian over a better contract.

But Chelsea can not only match the wages that the Toffees will offer but can offer significantly more. And at the same time, the return of Champions League football to the Bridge could also prove to be an enticing factor.

Lukaku has scored 12 goals so far this season and also has 4 assists to his name. The Belgian put in a fine display against Manchester City, opening the scoring in his side’s 4-0 win and he is someone whose stock is continuously on the rise.

Statistically, Lukaku hasn’t fared bad either, averaging 2.7 shots per match and winning 3.8 headed duels. However, it is his passing that doesn’t meet up to the mark, with Lukaku completing just 63.1 of his 26.1 attempted passes per game.

Alvaro Morata (Real Madrid)

Estimated Wages: £80,000

Contract Expiry: 2021

Another player who Conte has worked with in the past and who was heavily linked with a move to Chelsea in the summer, Morata rejoined Real Madrid after the La Liga giants opted to make use of a buy-back clause in their agreement with Juventus.

Since his return to the Santiago Bernabeu, the 24-year old has just started six games in La Liga but despite the lack of regular playing time, has scored five times and also has set up two more for his teammates.

Having featured so sparingly this term, his numbers aren’t exactly reliable, but Morata averages 2.3 shots per game, wins 0.9 aerial duels and completes 75.6% of his 12.3 attempted passes. The Spaniard at 6ft 2in is no slouch physically and can lead the line by himself and is definitely too good of a player to be warming the benches.

Christian Benteke (Crystal Palace)

Estimated Wages: £100,000

Contract Expiry: 2020

Benteke was always linked with a move to Stamford Bridge when Jose Mourinho was in charge of the Blues. He has since moved to two different clubs, to Liverpool and then to Crystal Palace, but with Conte preferring to use strikers of a similar profile, Benteke could prove to be the outside choice.

With reports emerging that the Eagles’ boss Sam Allardyce is willing to offload the Belgian so that he can generate funds to bring in players to take his team away from the relegation scrap, Chelsea could use this situation to their benefit.

Benteke may not be the smoothest of the movers on the pitch, but he does score goals in plenty and is always a nuisance for defenders with his physicality. Benteke has scored eight times and also has one assist this term for Palace.

He averages a slightly lower 2.5 shots per game but wins a mind-boggling 9.3 aerial duels in each match. His pass completion rate, though, is quite low at just 62.7%, but it should also be noted that most of these passes are from headers.

Andrea Belotti (Torino)

Estimated Wages: £30,000

Contract Expiry: 2021

Antonio Conte’s search for a replacement for Costa could lead him all the way back to Turin, where Andrea Belotti is banging in the goals at will for Torino. The 23-year old has been in excellent form this term and has already scored 13 times and has three assists in 16 Serie A starts. And these performances haven’t gone unnoticed, with Premier League heavyweights Arsenal and Liverpool also monitoring him.

Belotti is an old fashioned, burly and physical centre forward and shares a lot of features with Costa and could absolutely thrive under Conte’s tutelage.

The striker averages 3.3 shots per match and comes up trumps in 1.9 of his aerial duels in a game which is quite impressive for a man who is slightly under 6ft in height. He also enjoys a decent 78% pass success-rate for his 20.6 attempted passes every 90 minutes.

However, Chelsea should be aware that it would take a huge offer to get Torino to sell their prized asset, with reports earlier this month suggesting that a €65million bid made by Arsenal had been rejected by the Turin-based club.