Chelsea could sign “incredible” Sterling replacement in £43m ace who’s “on another level”
Following their brilliant 4-3 win over Manchester United on Thursday night last week, Chelsea reverted to type and took just a point away from their Premier League game against Sheffield United on Sunday.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side have endured several embarrassing results this season, but failing to beat a team who have conceded 82 goals in 31 games is arguably their worst.
Despite struggling to craft many chances against the Blades, Pochettino refused to call on the experience of Raheem Sterling, and based on recent reports, the Englishman’s time as an important player in the team could be coming to an end in the summer.
Latest Chelsea transfer news
According to a recent report from Football Insider, Chelsea are among several sides showing genuine interest in Athletic Bilbao’s incredibly exciting young winger, Nico Williams, ahead of the summer transfer window.
The report has revealed that the Blues are already trying to set up a deal to bring the 21-year-old to Stamford Bridge in the summer and, thanks to the €50m – £43m – release clause in his contract, it might not be a particularly expensive deal to complete, by the standards of modern football, that is.
However, while this is undeniably encouraging news for the West Londoners as a whole, it might not be so welcomed by Sterling, who could potentially lose his place in the team should the Spaniard make the move to England.
How Williams compares to Sterling
So the first thing to point out is that, like Sterling, Williams is a brilliant winger who can play on both the left and right of a front three, and while he has slightly favoured the right across his whole career, he has played predominantly on the left this year, which is likely the role the pair would be fighting for.
How about their output? Who comes out on top in that regard?
Well, when it comes to their careers to date, there is no competition, with the Englishman’s 299 goal involvements in 566 games dwarfing the Basque ace’s 60 in 142 games. However, this season, it’s an entirely different story.
In just 30 appearances this year, the “incredible” Pamplona-born gem, as described by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has scored six goals and provided 14 assists. In contrast, the Kingston-born Chelsea man has scored just eight goals and provided eight assists in 38 games.
So, with recent output firmly going the Spaniard’s way, how do the pair’s underlying numbers compare? Unfortunately for the former Manchester City star, this is another area in which he loses out to his potential replacement, and by quite some way in specific metrics.
The Bilbao dynamo produces a slightly lower non-penalty expected goals and assists figure but a significantly higher actual non-penalty goals and assists figure, more progressive carries, shot-creating and goal-creating actions, completes more take-ons, more ball recoveries and takes more shots as well, all per 90.
Nico Williams solo goal ????#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/b3CsDhEljl
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) April 8, 2024