While they face a significant portion of criticism for the amount they spent, Chelsea have built an impressive team full of talented players over the past few years.
From defense to offense, many game-changing stars could give Enzo Maresca a headache based on serious choices next season.
But as things stand, it’s still clear that Cole Palmer is far from the Blues’ most important player.
With the British already collecting tallies of 72 goal involvement in the club’s 97 games, fans should be excited by the report linking Chelsea to anyone who could become the next Palmer.
Chelsea targets the next Palmer
This year has been a busy summer for Chelsea so far. In addition to participating in and winning the Club World Cup, they are also very active in the transfer market.
Of all the signatures the Blues have made so far, it’s probably fair to say that Joao Pedro and Yorel Hato are the most exciting, with the former already scoring three goals, and the latter being one of the most rated defenders at the moment.
But even if their teams have already been heavily strengthened, the West Londoners are now closer to signing another up-and-coming talent, someone who could become Maresca’s new Palmer.
At least that’s according to a recent report from transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, who reaffirmed Chelsea’s intense interest in Zabi Simons.
More than that, Italian journalists have revealed that they will “continue to work” to sign the planet of RB Leipzig despite their interest in pensioner Alejandro Garnacho.
Romano has not mentioned how much Dutch people will cost, but reports from earlier this month claim that it should cost enough enough to lure German outfits to sell.
Certainly it’s a lot of money to spend on one player, but Simons has proven his abilities in recent seasons, and it’s worth it, especially as he can become Chelsea’s new Palmer.
Why Simons becomes the new Palmer?
So the first thing we have to say is that we don’t claim that Simons is as good a player as Palmer. Over the past two years, the British were world class and undoubtedly one of the best players in the entire Premier League.
However, the Dutch are still sensational footballers, with the masses and potential to share some important similarities with the former Manchester City ace.
The first of them is that he is just 22 years old, and he is about the same age and has already established himself as a key player at the club and international level.
For example, he already has 28 senior caps in the Netherlands, six of which appeared at last year’s European Championships, scoring five goals in 28 games and providing four assists.
At the club level, the Amsterdam-born star has made 135 appearances in stints with Paris Saint-Germain, PSV Eindhoven and most recently Leipzig.
Simons’ senior career | |||
|---|---|---|---|
team | game | the goal | assist |
psg | 11 | 0 | 1 |
PSV | 48 | twenty two | 11 |
RB Leipzig | 76 | twenty one | twenty three |
Netherlands | 28 | 5 | 4 |
All statistics through the transfer market | |||
In these 135 appearances, talent scout Jacek Kulig called him, a dynamic “game changer” scored 43 goals and provided 34 assists.
Aside from his output, the Flying Dutchman is positionally versatile, playing broadly like Palmer, as a traditional number 10 or with the wings.
Ultimately, fans shouldn’t expect Simons to come to the same level as Palmer anytime soon, but there are some important similarities between the pair, and there is no reason why over time he hasn’t been as effective as Maresca.
