Chelsea can finally sign dream Christopher Nkunku partner as bargain ‘transfer clause activated’
Chelsea transfer news as Mauricio Pochettino handed ideal chance to sign bargain forward that could transform Blues attack alongside the finally-available Christopher Nkunku
Chelsea have been handed the perfect chance to sign a cheap Nicolas Jackson replacement during the January transfer window as the Senegal forward heads to the African Cup of Nations. 20 games into the season and the 22-year-old is top of the Blues’ scoring charts with seven in the league and eight for all competitions.
Jackson has had an inconsistent start to life in England, bagging three to round up a memorable win against Tottenham in October but only managing one goal against sides not currently in the bottom three outside of that. He hasn’t scored in the league against a team between sixth and 17th.
However, given that Chelsea’s recent history with goalscoring has been poor – only Tammy Abraham has managed more than 11 league goals in a season since 2019, nobody has gotten more than 16 since Diego Costa – Jackson’s tally at the halfway stage is impressive. This is even more so when considering that he is in his first year as a striker and just his second in season playing in a top five European league.
This is what Mauricio Pochettino will be missing over the next six weeks as his main source of goals leaves to try and defend the AFCON title in Ivory Coast. Luckily, Christopher Nkunku has returned from injury and opened his account for the season on Christmas Eve against Wolves. He is expected to be a key attacking cog in the second half of the campaign.
Nkunku alone will not be able to transform things, though, and even Cole Palmer’s sensational form is not something that the Blues can rely on to make up for what remains an entirely unpredictable forward line. It is under this context that reports in Italy carry added interest for Chelsea.
Gazzetta write that long-term Chelsea target Paolo Dybala has a new £11million release clause open to teams outside of Serie A that became active on New Year’s Day, creating an opportunity of a bargain. Dybala is currently injured and has been missing for over two weeks with a hamstring knock, it is worryingly his third significant issue of the season and the eighth time he has missed games since the start of last term.
However, the 30-year-old does come with a major upside. When fit Dybala remains one of the most impactful players in Europe and currently ranks joint fourth for goal contributions in Italy despite only playing 12 games. Only Lautaro Martinez, Olivier Giroud and Gianluca Scamacca can match his output per90 of those to play more than 500 minutes in the league.
Last year he managed over 1,700 minutes – a decent but not spectacular amount – and made great use of his time on the field with 12 goals and six assists. Once again this was one of the top individual performances in the league and it came for a side that only finished sixth.
Given his experience – Dybala has over 300 Serie A appearances – he would fit the bill for the sort of immediate quality upgrade that Pochettino has been asking for over much of his first six months in charge. The 51-year-old had little say in most of the summer dealings but was clear in his demand to be more heavily involved this time round, he made this public as early on as September.
Dybala would not only bring a weight of success behind him, few can match his output across the past eight years, but also become the second oldest player in the squad, all for a much smaller price than that of the fees being paid for unproven youngsters that Chelsea have been buying.
Pochettino has been working with depleted numbers ever since he arrived and Dybala would not offer much security or certainty when it comes to availability. We have seen the willingness of Chelsea to try deals with short-sighted intentions already though as they signed Joao Felix on loan from Atletico Madrid just 12 months ago
There is no current suggestion that Dybala is a player on Chelsea’s radar still. But given his profile and the Argentine links between himself, Pochettino and Enzo Fernandez as well as a growing South American contingent in the wider recruitment strategy, it is a deal that has a certain amount going for it optically.
Dybala will also only have 18 months left on his contract come the end of the month and the lack of movement from Roma to tie down Jose Mourinho – who arrived one-year before Dybala joined – could leave the prospect of an early exit on the table. As someone who could dovetail with Nkunku, taking off some of the pressure on him to cover for Jackson over the next month or so, Dybala remains a player of great potential for clubs across Europe.