Poch could sign Chelsea’s next Robben in £60m sensation with a “deadly left foot” – opinion
Chelsea fans had to endure a pretty torrid time last season as their club floundered to a 12th-place finish in the Premier League under Frank Lampard, who was somehow the team’s fourth manager of the season.
Signs were pointing towards this year being a more fruitful one for the west Londoners, such as the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino, the offloading of deadwood, and the unprecedented spending that saw the club inundated with promising young talent.
However, as we enter the month of December, the Pensioners once again find themselves treading water in midtable and, short of a miraculous turnaround, look set to finish outside of the Champions League places for a second year running.
However, were Todd Boehly and co to once again dip into their cartoonishly deep pockets in January, they could sign just the player to help them out of this mess, a player who could look to emulate former Chelsea star Arjen Robben – Raphinha.
According to reports from Spain (via CaughtOffside), Chelsea are among several clubs who are ‘interested’ in signing the Barcelona winger and former Leeds United star in 2024.
The report mentions cross-city rivals Arsenal as one of the other interested parties and reveals that a bid in the region of €70m – about £60m – would be enough to secure the Brazilian’s signature.
This isn’t the first time that the Blues have expressed interest in the “unplayable” winger, as described by AllLeedsTV presenter Oscar Marrio, as the club were heavily linked with him last summer before he opted to join the La Liga giants instead.
It would be an undeniably pricey move were the club to go ahead with it, but for a Premier League-proven player who has a “deadly left foot”, as described by journalist Owuraku Ampofo, not too dissimilar to a certain Dutch great, it would be worth it.
Raphinha could be Chelsea’s next Arjen Robben
Now, are we saying that the Brazilian will end up surpassing the achievements of the former Blues and Bayern star? No, there is unlikely to be any player who can perfectly replicate the outrageous output that the flying Dutchman had during his pomp. After all, that trademark left foot was simply unstoppable and scored a staggering 134 goals across all club competitions.
However, the 26-year-old does have similarities to the icon, and were he given a run of games under Pochettino, there is no doubt that he would start to deliver.
The most striking similarity of them all is which foot he used to score the vast majority of his Premier League goals, and you guessed it, his left.
In his 65 top-flight appearances, the Porto Alegre-born “magician”, as hailed by former teammate Daniel James, scored 17 goals, with 16 of those coming off of his left foot. This season, he has started four games in La Liga and scored two goals, both of which came from his left boot.
Ultimately, while there will likely never be a player quite as deadly with one foot as Robben – who contributed to 40 goals and assists in 109 games for the Blues between 2004 and 2007 – Chelsea can get pretty close should they sign Raphinha from Barcelona.