According to the president of Napoli Football Club “Cavani is of the interest of Chelsea”, as was tweeted by the official Napoli SSC Twitter account. This strategy of publicizing news by both clubs and players has been increasingly apparent in recent years. Probably most famously to everybody who follows twitter will remember the transfer saga of Eden Hazard, announcing his future over the media server, causing chaos.
Cavani as usual has been on phenomenal form this year and has been extremely strong in Serie A, scoring 29 goals in 34 games. In Chelsea’s case, its obvious why they are being linked to such a lethal striker as their problems upfront have been well documented. The lack of firepower last season in the Premier League was evidence enough with Torres only racking up 8 league goals in 28 starts and 8 sub appearances with Ba chipping in with just 2 league goals.
Further analysis has shown that the Spaniard is not only inferior to Cavani in scoring goals within their respective leagues, but also in attempts during league games. Throughout the league, Cavani had an average of 4.6 shots per game, whereas in comparison Torres only managed an average if 1.9 shots per game. The lack of shooting opportunities for Torres leaves further question marks over the striker’s performances and highlightes more of Cavani’s attributes. A fearless player who is unafraid of taking responsibility within a team, such a quality that has been missed at Stamford Bridge since the departure of Didier Drogba.
Some may suggest that Torres would have a lower average as he came on as a substitute for 8 games compared to Cavani’s 1 substitute appearance, thus having less time to create opportunities within games. However, leaving out Torres’s substitute appearance’s he still only manages an average of 2.4 shots per game. These statistics for Chelsea fans cause great concern highlighting one of the factors as to why Chelsea were unable to challenge Manchester United for the League. They simply were not potent enough upfront.
Chelsea have been extremely reliant on goals coming from their midfield with all of Hazard, Mata and Lampard scoring more league goals than Fernando Torres. After making his move in Januray, Demba Ba was unable to make a significant impact by only scoring 2 league goals for the blues. Figures suggest that Ba is capable of making that position his for the new season, although some would argue that he was never brought in to be Chelsea’s number one striker. However, the need for better striking options is evident and one that must not be ignored by Jose Mourinho in this transfer window because if Lampard is phased out, a large chunk of Chelsea’s goals will be reduced.
Cavani could have a huge impact for Chelsea if he is able to bring his Serie A form to the Premier League. One would like to think that he would not have much of a problem adapting to the English style of play as he is strong, agile and intelligent. These are fantastic attributes that should enable him to adjust quickly to English football. Combine this with Chelsea’s creative midfielders such as Juan Mata and Eden Hazard who are the top two players within the total goal assists throughout the whole league campaign. The prospect of having a world class centre forward who can score consistently is mouth watering for Chelsea fans. Consistency is one of Cavani’s best attributes, scoring 18 in 18 home games and 11 in 16 away games in the Serie A season.
It doesn’t matter what club Cavani joins, if he does leave, he will certainly maintain a world class, quality striker that would improve any team in the premier league. He is one player who is definitely capable of having an instant impact at the bridge, hopefully helping them significantly to challenge the Manchester clubs for Premier league glory.
European stats were taken from WhoScored.
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