Most of the recent transfer news has linked Chelsea with strikers, in fact, it goes all the way back to summer 2012. At first it seemed as if Falcao was going to join Chelsea 100%, but that never worked out and instead, Radamel has gone to Monaco. Now, we’re linked with Dzeko, Gomez, Gomis, Cavani, Lewandowski, Ibrahimovic, etc. All fantastic strikers, but the question arises – do we really need another striker? Well, before we get into the targets, let’s look at what we’re currently working with:
- Fernando Torres
- Romelu Lukaku
- Demba Ba
3 strikers who have all scored 15+ goals this season. Fernando Torres : He was once the world’s best striker during his days at Liverpool, since then, he’s gone through a rough period in his career as of late. 
His debut half season at Chelsea was atrocious, he scored 1 goal against West Ham and never looked like himself. The following season was beyond inconsistent. He would played 2 good games, then play 5 bad games. He’d scored 2 goals then he wouldn’t score for the next 10 games. However, this past season, Torres netted 23 times for Chelsea and wasn’t the best in the Premier League, but was a huge force to be reckoned with in the Europa League. Torres has definitely turned it around and while he didn’t score many goals in the PL, it was his performances that caught my eye. He was beating defenders, linking up properly and had a real eye for goal. The opener against Benfica might have turned his fortunes around at Chelsea, but without a doubt, his hard work is paying off. Torres looks like he has another year or two left in him, for sure.
Romelu Lukaku : Bought during Andre Villas-Boas’s reign, Lukaku never got a real chance to shine in his opening season at Chelsea. Instead, it was loan 
at West Bromwich Albion this past season that showed Chelsea what they bought. Lukaku was loan out to The Baggies who were managed by Steve Clarke (Chelsea’s assistant manager from 2004-2008). Lukaku impressed more and more as the season went on. He was beating defenders with pace and strength while creating chances and finishing them. Romelu was really showing his quality as he became West Brom’s leading goalscorer and their savior at times. If there’s 1 match that shows us what Lukaku can really bring, it’s the match vs Manchester United at the Hawthorns. Lukaku came on as a sub and turned the match around for WBA. He netted a hat-trick that epitomizes him. The first goal was strike from distance which had pace and precision. The second goal was all about him, he made a brilliant run then outran the defender and calmly slotted home. The third goal was just his physical presence in the box and pure determination, he steps in front of the defender to latch onto a cross, get a touch to it then force it in to secure a point in a thrilling 5-5 draw. Lukaku has, without a doubt, been one of the best strikers in the Premier League this season.
Demba Ba : Ba joined Newcastle in the 2011/2012 season and was an instant hit, he practically scored every time he had a shot on goal. He was one of the better strikers, was clinical, had pace about him and could always use his strength to hold the ball up and make a pass. However, his fortunes turned around at Newcastle when Papiss Demba Cisse joined and took over. Cisse did what Ba did and that 
almost completely eliminated Ba from the Toon strikeforce. He looked anonymous and rarely scored as the season came to a close. However, the tide turned again and this time, in his favor. The 2012/13 season was quite successful for Demba Ba as he scored more than Cisse did and looked more of a threat than Cisse. He was Newcastle’s top scorer and then in January, moved to Chelsea as Daniel Sturridge moved to Liverpool. Rafa Benitez and the board were happy to sign him and many of the fans looked forward to goals galore. It definitely started off that way as Ba netted 2 goals in his debut in a FA Cup match against Southampton at the Saint Mary’s stadium. Chelsea won the match and it seemed as if our striker problems were solved. However, it would not be that way as Ba failed to score often and produced some woeful performances along the way. Many fans were frustrated with Ba as Sturridge was impressing and dominating at Liverpool. Demba Ba did produce some good performances and goals, but never showed his Newcastle-self. It’s been a disappointing debut half season for Demba Ba.
Now that we’ve got our current options covered, I ask “Do you need another striker?”
First, let’s see some of the responses I got via Twitter when I tweeted the question :
Most opinions I received say we do need one and bring up Cavani, Lukaku and Doumbia. Some say selling Demba Ba while bringing in another striker would also be a good option. Nonetheless, it’s almost universally agreed that we need to buy a striker. Here’s my take on it : We do need another striker, but if we bring in a striker, 1 striker would have to go. That could mean loaning Lukaku out again, selling Torres or selling Ba while bringing in Cavani, Dzeko, Doumbia, Zlatan, etc. While Demba Ba is a good striker, he can’t succeed at Chelsea. He would only succeed in a place where it’s just him playing every game (basically) and having a striker who plays a secondary role that supports him and not vice versa. That’s not how it’ll be under Mourinho (I’m almost fully confident), so selling Demba Ba would be the best option. However, we should also be careful on who we bring in. Dzeko, Cavani and Ibrahimovic are all fantastic strikers and they know how to finish (which is always good).
Cavani will roughly cost us about £30m-£35m plus Torres or £50m without Torres. Ibrahimovic has no rumored price tag, but I’d say in the region of £20m as PSG payed £15.7m for him almost a year ago. Dzeko would be in the neighborhood of £30m since City payed £27.5m for him in 2011.
If we go for Cavani, I’d prefer keeping Torres and selling Demba Ba. So if we bought Cavani for let’s say 50m, we should sell Demba Ba for roughly £15m. Meaning that Cavani would cost us £35m. (Roughly speaking here).
If we go for Ibrahimovic, I’d say paying about £20m for him and sending Ba out to wherever for £15m (we paid £7m for him), so we’d make a £3m profit. (£15m plus £8m minus the £20m for Zlatan).
If we go for Dzeko, I’d do the same thing – send Ba out for £15m, take Dzeko in for £25m-£30m, which would be a £2m-£7m loss. Just some numbers and options for you all to think about.
I’d prefer Zlatan and Dzeko over Cavani for the sake of money (remember that football is a business) and I think Mourinho’s previous interest in Dzeko will make the Bosnian’s move to Chelsea more fluid and possible and the same would go for Ibrahimovic as Zlatan says he loved working with Mourinho and that Jose is one of his favorite coaches. Jose certainly has certainly had nice things to say about Zlatan as well.
What do you think? Let me know in the comment section and the poll below!
[polldaddy poll=7155050]
We also have islam feruz very potent striker in the under 21’s he is going to be a star but whats the point of buying him wehn your just gonna replace him with good strikers. We have 2 very very quick powerfull strikers in Feruz and Lukaku who could lead our front line for the next ten years
All I know is,Ba must leave. He doesn’t fit Chelsea. We must get a ball playing striker who is like Torres or in the same mould. I know Yilmaz isn’t proven at the top level yet but he scores goals for fun and his link up play is good. Wasn’t he one of the top 5 goal scorers in the UCL?
We ended up third in the league last term and with Mourinho next season,I’m confident the team will be more consistent. Bring in Yilmaz and keep Lukaku. The trio of Torres,Lukaku and Yilmaz should be fine because we have goals in the midfield too. How many goals do we need to win a match especially when you’re Chelsea,coached by Mourinho? 😉
I’m extremely confident.
I think Ba deserves more time. That seems to be always the case with Chelsea strikers.. they start bad but end up doing good.. and with Mourinho’s midas touch anything is possible..
eh dude, ba is good enough.. respect him.. It is just that our service is bad
look at his goals, he at least deserves one full season
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qBx3gFsFl8
I think Mourinho should retain current strikers. When a club has many strikers who want to play always it is difficult for managers to choose. I meant it will be player rotation. They will be difficult to score that many gol in one season. Don’t expect that our strikers will score a lot of goals in one season. Although we have Cavani and Doumbia in our team. So, we should wait and see how the development of the current strikers under Mourinho. If they do not achieve the expected performance by everyone during the pre-season, then buy a striker before the transfer window closes and sell a striker during the January transfer. A LB is also required. I love Shaw. May also CB or RB for backup Luiz for DM or Ivanovic for RB.
Why selling BA?? he been at chelsea for a half of season, yes I know he didn’t score that much but still he is a good striker who scores some amizing goals. for example vs Man utd and Man city. actually Torres scores against week teams. tell me the last time he scores against Man utd….? and remember Torres has been at the bridge for 3 season but still can’t get his form back. and Torres wage is also a problem for the club. therefore sell Torres and get the powerful Ibrahimovic
Zlatan no evern more wages ge turns up for a season get’s paid an astronomical amount then pisses off
Why selling BA?? he been at chelsea for a half of season, yes I know he didn’t score that much but still he is a good striker who scores some amizing goals. for example vs Man utd and Man city. actually Torres scores against weak teams. tell me the last time he scores against Man utd….? and remember Torres has been at the bridge for 3 season but still can’t get his form back. and Torres wage is also a problem for the club. therefore sell Torres and get the powerful Ibrahimovic
uh… why sell ba? if you ignore his first game for chelsea, he’s scored only 4 times in 21 games for chelsea. He might score amazing goals, but i’d rather we socre simple goals in bulk instead of a wonder goal every 7 matches, no? I’d prefer it if we kept torres because he fits the chelsea style of play; his intelligent movement, ability to link up with the MaZaCar and his defensive work rate justify chelsea keeping him. As for the wage matter, why wail about the money given to him in wages when his shirt sales bring more than twice his wages into the coffer every year?
Are you mad? If we’ve learned anything about Torress is that Chelsea style doesn’t suit him. He’s been with us for three seasons but hasn’t found his way. I also recall that Torres fans blamed our midfield for not giving Torres the ball, that doesn’t sounds like he works well with Mazacar. You know very well Torres only has a bite when it comes to small teams. Ba has been with us for only half a season so why not give him time to adapt to our style as we did for Torres. Please stop being bias and put the team before your boy Torres.
pathetic Torres fangirl
The club get less than £5 a shirt. Adidas, tax, and many more take the biggest piece. Dumb
I’ve noticed that most of Chelsea like Torres for what he WAS not what he is at the moment, simply put Torres has been poor. The first half of the season we were knocked out of major competitions because Torres can’t do it on the grand stage, look at the stats they reflect that. Ba hasn’t been wow either but the difference is Ba has scored more goals in his first 21 games than Torres managed in his, he cost cost more than 5 times less than Torres, he has been given far less times than the pre-madonna being Torres. Give Ba a fair chance and I think Torres’ stats are horrifying for any striker in top level football, never mind a 50 million striker shocking to say the least. He doesn’t deserve anymore chances let him go while theres still a little value attached to him.
Judging Ba is shit after half a season, and having faith of Torres after 2 and half seasn being shit. Haha #PeopleNowadays
Bring lukaku back incase of buying striker like dzeco or cavani but if we get some1 like Lewandowski will be a good deal for chelsea.
We don’t need to buy a Striker. Lukaku, Ba and Torres is more than enough.
Chelsea has been properly styled in some quarters as a strikers grave yard.I hear suggestions Ba be sold.have we all forgotten the number of goals he scored in the 1st half of last season before coming to chelsea?now we see how impressive sturidge has been for liverpool and ofcourse lukaku only shined at westbrom.its a chelsea problem not a fault of those strikers as they would shine at any other club.torres inclusive
Mourinh should forget sneider,De Rossi is ok.Eden Hazard play pass C Ronaldo.oscar better than Rooney j m keep Luiz ,Mata or you sack.
Yes Chelsea need hot strike like cavani,fred,lukaku,jovetic,higuain