If media reports are to be believed, Sean Dyche is set to lose his defensive rock James Tarkowski to an English giant very soon. It was reported that Manchester City were interested in signing the English player with a Polish origin. It now seems the competition could be set to be taken to higher standards with Arsenal and Chelsea now set to join the race. The three-diamond clubs of England are chasing the English player and at the age of 25, he could prove to be a vital asset for any club.
Burnley has produced a mean defence this time which has seen the club soar as high as the sixth place in the league table before yesterday’s match day and much of the credit must go to Tarkowski.
It is now being reported that Conte is looking to add further depth and strength to his squad and English central defender James Tarkowski has become a target for the Italian.
Although a player of Tarkowski’ quality would be a good addition to Chelsea, the Blues will have to deal with a problem of plenty. James Tarkowski will be an upgrade on Gary Cahill, who appears to be past his prime and looking more and more average with every passing game. He will also add to what is a very thin number of homegrown English players at SW6. What his welcome would do, however, is that it would slow down the development of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen, with Antonio Conte likely to give his new signing a healthy amount of game time to prove himself and the manager’s choice right.
With Cesar Azpilicueta a must to the Blues line-up, Tarkowski’s induction would just leave space for one more defender. With Kurt Zouma returning next summer, it would mean a fight between Zouma, Christensen, Luiz Cahill and Rudiger for one position; a situation any manager would not like to handle.
While getting Tarkowski would be a major boost in terms of squad number to the backline, Chelsea have bigger issues to deal with. The club is suffering from a serious shortage of players after a mass exodus in the summer and will need to bring in wing backs on the left flank and a recognized striker first to stop them from collapsing. Maybe instead of chasing Tarkowski, that is what they should be focusing on.
Moreover, how easily will Burnley let go of their star defender remains to be seen? Burnley who are enjoying a good season is unlikely to let go of Tarkowski as he would want to see how far can Burnley take their good form into the season. Losing Tarkowski might cause the team to destabilize, something Dyche would be unlikely to comply with.
