According to a report, Chelsea’s boss Antonio Conte has earmarked West Ham United’s versatile player Michail Antonio as his January transfer target. While the Hammers have had to bear the brunt of the envious glances towards French winger Dimitri Payet, Antonio has quietly moved up the pecking order after having developed a lethal end product to his vast repertoire of skills.
Chelsea are on the verge of making history in the Premier League and will become the only team to win 14 matches in a row in the same season if they manage to get the better of Tottenham Hotspur in tonight’s game.
Antonio Conte has managed to effect an amazing turnaround from his players and the team which huffed and puffed to a 10th place finish last year, are looking like running away with the title with only half of the season played out. A 3-4-3 formation has worked wonders for them but the fact remains that Chelsea are being massively aided as they haven’t got Champions League to worry about and the fact that they got knocked out of the League Cup at the hands of West Ham United early on.
Much like Leicester City last season, they have played a fairly settled team and the players have always got enough time to recover after a match. Injuries have been few and far between and the likes of Costa and Fabregas have been extremely disciplined.
With Champions League looking almost certain next season, it is imperative that they add to their ranks. The Blues have a strong starting 11 but other than that they have seldom options on the bench and Conte does not have the luxury to call upon too many players in matches where they might be trailing or locked in a stalemate.
In addition to the depth, Conte also wants to add fresh faces to the squad so as to keep Chelsea’s momentum in the second half of the season. With the same set of players playing day in day out, there is a strong possibility that they might suffer a burnout sooner rather than later.
Hence, a high-octane winger cum forward cum right-back, Michail Antonio should serve the purpose brilliantly. He has been a revelation this season. His raw pace and physicality have ensured that he is one of the most feared players in the attacking third this season. He is West Ham United’s highest scorer with 8 goals and can provide perfect competition to Victor Moses and further forward to the likes of Pedro and Willian as well.
It will understandably be a difficult deal to complete with the Hammers not too keen to let go of their main players as they try to recover from a difficult position in the league.
