Chelsea likely to turn down the chance to sign 17 goal Premier League marksman | OneFootball

You can blame Chelsea’s current form on so many things – bad goalkeeping, bad defending, a lack of cover in midfield, the indifferent form of our attackers, an inexperienced manager, clueless sporting directors. But so much of it can be funnelled into one thing – a lack of a consistent goalscorer.

All was well until Nicolas Jackson stopped scoring. Now of course there is some chicken and egg to this equation – he’s not scoring because the team isn’t playing well just as much as the results aren’t good because he’s not scoring. But regardless, there are players out there who find the net even when their team struggles, and that’s what Chelsea need right now.

So many other issues would be lessened if we could just find the net consistently.

Chelsea likely to turn down the chance to sign proven Premier League scorer

Jean-Philippe Mateta of Crystal Palace celebrates a goal. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

A proven Premier League goalscorer isn’t easy to come across, and you can expect hot competition when you find one. So it should be no surprise that there’s increasing chatter about a big move for Crystal Palace’s striker Jean-Philippe Mateta. He’s got 17 goals this season, building on an impressive campaign last year.

Now CaughtOffside are reporting that Chelsea are in the mix for the Frenchman, alongside a bunch of teams including West Ham, Newcastle, Bournemouth, Atletico Madrid and Lyon.

A price of £30m-35m is noted, not outrageous for a player with such an impressive recent record.

Of course there’s one flaw with this plan – Mateta is 27 and Chelsea’s sporting directors wouldn’t dream of signing someone that old, no matter how good they are or how quickly they can help the team. They need to save up all their spending power for 16 year olds who may or may not be good in 5 years time.