Goals are what win you matches. It can come from anyone and anywhere and most imperatively they can come anyhow. The closest ones to slot them home in a field are the strikers despite others being indulged in efforts too. However, a team without a proper striker is heavily inclined to a lot more monotonous football and this takes a heavy toll on the mid-fielders as instead of creating an exotic game they are compelled to open up more scoring opportunities.
Chelsea is currently stuck in a similar quagmire with one of their most potential signings of 2017 failing to score on repeated occasions. He is none other than Spanish marksman, Alvaro Morata. Signed in the previous year for a record fee of £60m, Morata was simply a shadow of his former scintillating self in the blue colours.
Morata started his career at Real Madrid B with astonishing figures of 45 goals from only 83 matches. This propelled him to the elite squad of Los Blancos where he mainly used to appear as a sub and exhibited laudable prowess to keep him afloat in the firing squad of Real.
From the ranks of Real, he was notched up by Italian stalwarts, Juventus. Despite an indifferent campaign in black and white, Chelsea still managed to rope him in. Morata went into a consistent receding tailspin as he failed to find the back of the net on consecutive occasions.
Whatever goals came from him was either simple tap-ins or headers from set-pieces. His numbers read at a languishing 11 goals from 32 appearances. This has been a major concern for Chelsea as, after the departure of Diego Costa, they are yet to spot a proper striker.
Morata is simply penning another essay exactly in the same path which was taken by Spanish crème-de-la-crème, Fernando Torres. After fabulous outings in the colours of Atletico Madrid and Liverpool, where he almost single-handedly stoked Liverpool’s wager for the League, he was roped in by Chelsea. Despite decent starts, Torres literally ossified at Stamford Bridge. He started missing sitters, which were harder to miss than to score.
From a regular starter, he went on to become a sub and from there he was demoted to the bench for most of the times. If Morata is headed in the exact same direction, it is high time that Chelsea should contemplate swapping him for a more potential forward.
It is also important that Morata starts showing his knack for goals, or chances are high that he will probably have to take the route for Chinese clubs like Oscar, Torres, and Schweinsteiger did. He is not the same player that he used to be for Juve or at the Bernabeu as well and will want to change things with regards to his career soon.
Sarri is a very demanding manager and will want to get the best out of the player. If he can’t make use of the striker’s services, as well as he likes, he might look for an alternate option in the January transfer window, for all we know.