Glenn Hoddle urges Chelsea to sign Victor Osimhen ahead of Manchester United
Posted by  badge Boss on Apr 05, 2023 - 10:28AM
Victor Osimhen has been in sublime form for Napoli this season (NurPhoto via Getty)

Glenn Hoddle has urged to sign Napoli striker ahead of this summer.

Chelsea’s lack of cutting edge in front of goal was on show once again on Tuesday evening as they missed several chances in the 0-0 draw with Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea have scored just 29 goals in the Premier League this season, which is their worst return at this stage in a league campaign since 1979.

Osimhen, meanwhile, is expected to be one of the most in-demand players this summer having scored 25 goals in 29 appearances for Napoli this season.

with Erik ten Hag keen on bolstering his squad with a new striker in the upcoming transfer window.

And Hoddle believes Osimhen would be the only player that Chelsea need to sign this summer.

‘They do need a No.9, they do need a goalscorer,’ Hoddle told Premier League Productions.

Chelsea’s struggles in front of goal continued once again on Tuesday as they drew 0-0 with Liverpool at Stamford Bridge (Getty)

‘But I’ll tell you what, whoever comes in as a new manager for this squad, normally you’d say when a new manager comes in he’s going to want to bring some of his own players in, I think he only needs a No.9, I think everything [else] is there.

‘You need someone who you think is going to score 20 goals for you, a fox in the box, someone who wants to be in that area where they’re creating so much.

‘But that’s the only player I think they need – they’ve got everything else.

‘The important thing is the ones they move out so they can have a more balanced squad, they’ve got so many players, that’s what you use your energy for. Any manager going in there and saying, ‘we’ve got no quality, I need to bring in five players’, no, they’re already there.

‘You’ve got two goalkeepers, the back players are strong enough and good enough, you’ve got your midfield, decent, might strengthen one there maybe, if you keep [Joao] Felix… all you need is a No.9 as a new manager going into Chelsea, in my opinion.

‘I’d like to know how many clear and good chances over the season they have made, I bet it outnumbers most teams, or it’s up there with the top teams, it’s the conversion rate that’s really hitting them.

‘I’m looking at [Kai] Havertz, he’s not a No.9, he wants to float and wants to drop off, that’s okay, Liverpool at their very best had [Roberto] Firmino coming towards the ball, Mane and Salah ended up as centre-forwards. To a certain degree that’s happened with other teams in the past, you have a striker who comes off towards the ball and you have people arriving in the box, making runs from midfield, that balance just needs to be tweaked a bit.

‘At the moment, I think what Chelsea have got with the quality of their players, they need a No.9, they need someone who wants to get in the box. Too many times you don’t see that for Chelsea, there’s nobody in the box or there’s one in the box.

‘They’ve got creators there, if you’re a striker coming into that club you’d fancy your chances.’

Asked if Osimhen could be the answer to Chelsea’s issues, Hoddle replied: ‘Without a doubt, he’s number one, but there are a few clubs after him.

‘But if you put him in a Chelsea shirt he will score a load of goals.’

Hoddle also believes Chelsea would be thriving if the club’s hierarchy had kept Thomas Tuchel at Stamford Bridge.

‘There have been a lot of managers who have been sacked, what shocked me more was Tuchel being sacked,’ Hoddle said.

‘It was a poor decision, I’m sorry but it was, for Chelsea, no doubt about it.

‘ What he did in a short period of time, you’ve got to look at that, a Champions League winners, you had the foundation there for real success and now they’re grasping for that by trying to go and buy a load of players. Give that money to Tuchel and go and buy what he wants to buy, that would’ve been incredible.

‘He might have got the best out of [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang, Aubameyang goes there to work with Tuchel and he’s gone. So we don’t know [if it would’ve worked], it’s hypothetical now, but he [thought], ‘I got the best out of him at Dortmund and I’ll do it again’, but that crumbled, that disappeared, there’s been a lot of stumbling blocks on this finisher that Chelsea need.’

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