Chelsea: Elye Wahi would be better fit for Pochettino than Vlahovic

Dusan Vlahovic continues to be linked with Chelsea, but would Montpellier’s Elye Wahi be a better option?

Chelsea have been fairly ruthless with their transfer business so far this summer, having brought in a couple of top talents in Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku while at the same time offloading plenty of deadwood.

However, the Blues are seemingly stalling over whether to bring in another forward – and if so, what type of player exactly should they be going for?

Who are Chelsea’s current strikers?
Nkunku and Jackson will battle it out to be Mauricio Pochettino’s go-to man up top next season, though there is also a chance that both could be shoehorned into the side.

Assuming Romelu Lukaku, Hakim Ziyech and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are each moved on, as is widely expected, the Argentine head coach would be left with Noni Madueke, Armando Broja, Raheem Sterling and Mykhailo Mudryk to choose from in the attacking areas.

Signing another forward would not be the worst decision, then, though Chelsea do not necessarily need to spend big on another player who will only be happy if playing every single match. After all, that will just cause disharmony in the squad, as was the case last season.

As rumours linking Premier League heavyweights Chelsea with Juventus ace Dusan Vlahovic refuse to go away, ESPN reports that the Blues are also now monitoring highly rated Montpellier centre-forward Elye Wahi.

Is Elye Wahi a good player?
Wahi is far from an unknown player given that he has played 84 times for Montpellier in Ligue 1, including 33 appearances last season as La Paillade finished 12th.

The 20-year-old whiz scored 19 goals and assisted a further five in those 33 outings.

Those 24 direct goal involvements put Wahi on a par with Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar, while only six others in the French top flight Kylian Mbappe (34) and Lionel Messi (32) among them – were involved in more.

As per The Analyst, the Montpellier goal machine ranks in the top 11% of all forwards across Europe’s top five leagues for goals scored last season – and all this while still aged just 20.

For context, Vlahovic – who it is looking increasingly likely is a major target for Chelsea – ranks only in the top 26% in that same metric.

The Serbia international scored (10) and assisted (two) 12 goals in 27 Serie A appearances for Juventus last time out.

ESPN reports that Wahi could be available for £26m this summer, which is under half the amount Juventus want for Vlahovic, according to Foot Mercato.

Vlahovic would of course be a huge asset for Chelsea, but his numbers have steadily declined since he joined Juve from Fiorentina in January 2022.

The 23-year-old recorded 0.92 goals or assists every 90 minutes in the first half of the 2021/22 season with Fiorentina, as per FBref, but that dropped to 0.67 in the second half of the same season whilst with Juve, and to 0.56 in his only full campaign at the Allianz Stadium.

Wahi’s numbers are only getting better with time, meanwhile, with the French youngster – described as “powerful, athletic and fast” by ex-Caen academy director Francis de Taddeo – surely the better fit as part of Pochettino’s Chelsea revolution.