With the first ever winter World Cup out in Qatar now in full flow and with the Group Stage games coming to an end on Friday, the last 16 stage is now with us and it has kept most fans well and truly occupied given the lull in the domestic Premier League fixture list. News for Chelsea fans has been a little bit thin on the ground in terms of genuine stuff, but there has certainly been an up tick in transfer rumour mill speculation for those who like that side of football.
With the January window nearing, fans can expect far more rumours to do the rounds in the coming weeks and for those who like a flutter football bets are now available. Having long hung up his playing boots, former Chelsea and England international, Glen Johnson, has recently commented that he feels manager Graham Potter and the club should try and steal PSV Eindhoven star Cody Gakpo from under the noses of Erik ten Hag and Manchester United.
The 23 year old Dutch international winger has been linked with a potential move to Old Trafford since Ten Hag first arrived in Manchester, but having been recently interviewed by The Mirror, former Premier League winner Johnson feels that he is well suited to life at Stamford Bridge and that Chelsea should be mounting their own move for the Netherlands attacker.
“Cody Gakpo has really caught my eye at the World Cup. It’s not easy to score at this level, also the way he reads the game, the way he plays and moves, he looks the real deal. In terms of personnel, Chelsea need Gakpo more than Liverpool. Chelsea have always had fantastic wingers, but they never scored goals, if you don’t get in those positions to score goals there’s not much point in you being in the team. Gakpo looks like he could do it in the Premier League, he looks like he would burst onto the scene like Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz has for Liverpool.”
Gakpo has probably come to the attention of a number of fans given his performances for the Netherlands in their Group A battles against Senegal, Ecuador and Qatar. Having picked up seven points from their three games, they got their knockout stage clash with the United States out of the way in good fashion on Saturday afternoon, taking a pretty comfortable 3-1 victory over the US.
Johnson also went on to explain that if Chelsea could secure the player, it should also mean that we then move on Romelu Lukaku who has been a real issue following his big money return, and he just has not rediscovered his form – and he has not exactly impressed for Belgium either.
“Chelsea should look to offload Romelu Lukaku permanently. He was terrible at Chelsea and is not looking good now. Maybe Chelsea might feel like they want to wait and see if the situation gets any better, but sometimes things just don’t work. We all know he can score goals, but he’s just not the right fit for Chelsea. Chelsea should look to sell Lukaku now because his price tag goes down every time he plays. The big-hitting clubs won’t be falling down hills for him after his time at Chelsea and now after his performance in the World Cup. You don’t lose your ability overnight, I think Lukaku listens to too many critics around him. You can’t be a top player like he was by being mentally fragile, he’s probably now paying attention to all the big chances he’s missing. The more you think about it, the more nervous you are for your next chance.”
Whether the club listen to Johnson’s advice remains to be seen, but we definitely need to solve the Lukaku problem.
Photo by Unsplash
