Gonzalo Higuain can be an important signing for Chelsea, The Telegraph’s football expert Matt Law has claimed.
Law was speaking on the Sunday Supplement and said the Argentine forward is key in implementing the demands that Maurizio Sarri always asks of his players. During their time at Napoli, Higuain scored his 36 career high goals and Sarri’s acquisition of the forward has been lauded. Higuain scored his first brace in a Chelsea shirt as he made his debut at home when The Blues beat Huddersfield Town 5-0.
“What you could see on Saturday, even though it was against Huddersfield, was that with Higuain, with a proper striker, you could see how the system is meant to work in the attacking areas. All season they’d either been playing with Eden Hazard as the false nine or Alvaro Morata. The whole system was basically falling down.”
“You could only get so far with pass, pass, pass, pass and pass. Then there was no movement from whoever was playing through the middle and it would fall down in the attacking areas. In a lot of matches, they weren’t really creating a lot of chances. So, albeit against Huddersfield where you could have probably played in any system and won the game quite convincingly, you got a look and a feeling of how the system is now meant to work with a proper striker.” Law said.
The football analyst further added that the combination of Eden Hazard and the Juventus striker might grow into something beneficial to Chelsea. Higuain joined from Juventus on loan.
“Hazard started on the left but he was playing very close to Higuain, almost like a partner, and it wasn’t breaking down any more. They, along with Willian, were working in tandem and they were creating chances. They looked dangerous. For that style of football, it was very encouraging for them.” Law concluded.
Sarri had been using Hazard as ‘false 9’ even when Alvaro Morata was available before he signed Higuain. Morata has since joined Atletico Madrid on loan too.
