Alvaro Morata arrived at Chelsea from Real Madrid for a fee in the region of £60 million. With such a hefty price tag a lot was excepted of the Spaniard. When he debuted for Chelsea he did not disappoint. In the first league game of the season, Morata came off the bench for Chelsea scoring a goal and getting an assist.
This was a promising start to his Premier League career. His good start would continue through his first 11 league games. In which he managed to score eight and assist four. However, since those first 11 games, Morata’s form has increasingly dipped off. In his next 13 league appearances this season, he has scored just two and assisted one, which is simply not good enough for a striker brought in for such a big price tag. This also resulted in him getting reduced to the substitutes’ bench with winter signing Olivier Giroud taking up his place in the starting lineup.
Given how badly he is doing and how much time he is spending on the bench recently, it is likely Chelsea will look for a new frontman in the summer. Because if they want any chance of challenging for the league title next season, they need a consistent goal scorer. As of right now, Morata doesn’t look to be that man.
Here are three players who could replace him this summer.
Ciro Immobile
Immobile is a quite similar player to Morata given he is very good with his head. However, it can be argued Immobile is better all around. Also, given his record for Lazio, all the top clubs, including Chelsea, should be clamouring to sign him.
Immobile has spent two seasons at Lazio, including this one. Last season, he scored 23 goals and got four assists in 36 league games. This season Immobile has improved even more as in just 26 league games he has bagged 24 goals and nine assists, beating both his goal and assist tally for last season, with 12 games still to go, which shows what superb goalscoring form he has been in this season.
The only problem Chelsea may have is if Lazio finish in a Champions League spot and they do not, the likelihood of Immobile coming to Chelsea will be very much decreased. However, as of right now, they are 5th like Chelsea, meaning both teams would be playing Europa League football next season.
Mauro Icardi
Mauro Icardi is a phenomenal striker and any club would love to have him as their number nine. He is not as tall as Morata. However, he is still a handful in the air and unlike Morata, Icardi is very good with his feet.
In the 2015/16 season, he scored 16 goals in 33 league games for Inter Milan. Last season he scored 24 goals and earned seven assists in 34 league games. But this season is maybe his most impressive so far. In just 24 games he has already managed to score 22 league goals, bagging four in his most recent game vs Sampdoria with three of those coming in the first half inside a 14 minute period.
Furthermore, Icardi is Inter Milan’s captain. Which shows that he certainly is a strong leader and can gave a side the edge to push on and fight. Leadership and fight is something Morata has been criticised for not having. It is also something Chelsea lost when they sold Diego Costa and replaced him with Morata. Therefore, not only will Icardi score for Chelsea a lot of goals, he will also bring some much-needed leadership and fight to the side.
Jamie Vardy
Jamie Vardy might seem a bit of an odd choice for Chelsea. However, this signing would likely be more likely to happen if Chelsea fail to make the top four and in turn cannot attract the huge name strikers.
His biggest advantage is that unlike the two players mentioned above, Vardy is a proven Premier League goal scorer. During Leicester’s title-winning season he scored a very solid 24 in 36 league games. Then, the season after when Leicester were nearly the first team to win the title then be relegated the next, he still managed 13 in the league. This season, which Leicester had a very bad start to, he has managed 14 in 29 so far. So, given Vardy has proved he can hit double figures constantly in the Premier League for at times a not very good side, surely he would be able to improve on those numbers surrounded by players such as Eden Hazard at Chelsea.
