Higua-in or Higua-out

After weeks of intensifying speculation, Gonzalo Higuaín has arrived at Stamford Bridge for a season-long loan deal with an option to make the move permanent. Chelsea has only scored five goals in their last six games, a pretty dismal record given that they’ve faced off against Leicester (H), Watford (A), Crystal Palace (A), Southampton (H), Newcastle (H) and Arsenal (A). In that period, Eden Hazard (£11.0) has started as a “false nine” four times, netting two goals and one assist in the process. In their last game against Arsenal, Chelsea only had one shot on target in the entire match… It would, however, be remiss of me to fail to mention that The Blues also had 13 shots in total in that game, but the accuracy on the day was way off.

It would appear that Hazard is in dire need of getting some respite from carrying the attack and seeing as how neither the misfiring Álvaro Morata (£8.4) nor Olivier Giroud (£7.7) can give him that, Chelsea turned to Higuaín.

The backstory

So who is Gonzalo “El Pipita” Higuaín and can he be the solution to Chelsea’s attacking woes? Higuaín started his career at River Plate before moving to Real Madrid at the age of 19. At Real Madrid he initially struggled to make an impact, scoring only two goals and two assists in 19 appearances. As the seasons went on though, he started to hit his stride and when the time came to move on six years later, he had scored 122 goals and 56 assists in 264 appearances.

He then moved to Napoli where he spent three seasons, with the final season being under the management of current Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri. That season (2015-2016) was his personal best where he broke a 66-year-old Serie A record set by Gunnar Nordahl, scoring 36 goals and 2 assists in 35 games. Sarri initially went with the tough love approach with Higuaín, telling him he was “too lazy and if he didn’t change his attitude he’d never become the best centre-forward in the world“ , but as their relationship developed he also made note of the more sensitive side of the striker, claiming that “Higuaín is a very sensitive guy and up to this point he has been trying to keep up an image that doesn’t really go with his real character. He is not only the best forward in the world but he is also a man with very genuine feelings that are hidden behind that image“. This approach appears to have paid off for Sarri and we could see him trying something similar at Chelsea.  All in all at Napoli he played a part in 147 games and managed 92 goals and 26 assists.

The season after that he went to Juventus and in his two years there, he’s got 55 goals, 12 assists in 105 appearances. This season he’s been loaned out to AC Milan, where he has struggled to make as much of an impact as that glorious 2015/16 season. This time around 22 appearances has netted him 8 goals and 3 assists.

As for his international career he has been playing for Argentina as a part of an insanely talented and heavily attack-minded squad that at times has struggled to work as a cohesive unit. Lining up next to the likes of Lionel Messi, Sergio Agüero (£11.3), Ángel Di María and Ezequiel Lavezzi, Higuaín has scored 33 goals and 13 assists in 75 games.

What does he bring to the table?

In short, goals. His track record highlights a striker that as the old cliché goes, “knows where the net is”, even if he has been on a downwards trajectory recently. Taking up the central striker position he would also free Hazard up to do what he arguably does best, cut in from the left-hand side to either set up a teammate or finish the chance off himself. You would think that Hazard has a good chance of keeping spot-kick duties, having scored 45 out of 52 attempts throughout his career in comparison to Higuaín’s 19 out of 27. Keeping pens and getting Higuaín to play off, we could also see Hazard being reignited as a fantasy option.

As far as Higuaín himself goes the pricing is key, even though with Harry Kane (£12.5) out it seems that a lot of people have cash burning holes in their virtual pockets. The “FPL towers” have put him in at £9.5, a bit of an awkward price range but for a nailed on striker at a top-six club, I think that’s pretty fair. His main contenders in that bracket are Alexandre Lacazette (£9.3), Roberto Firmino (£9.3) and Jamie Vardy (£8.9). Lacazette has started to get more minutes (but he rarely gets the full 90), Firmino is in good form (but he’s playing reverse out of position) and Vardy’s next three fixtures (Liverpool (A), Man Utd (H) and Spurs (A)) are either horrible or excellent, depending on your view of him as a player. So, a mixed bag, but arguably Firmino is the “safe” pick of the bunch with Lacazette taking on the role as sneaky differential…

If Higuaín can hit the ground running at Chelsea though, he looks like he could be an interesting candidate for a spot in our teams. If you have Hazard, Higuaín could also be a good enough reason to stick for a few weeks and see how they gel. Their next four fixtures are Bournemouth (A), Huddersfield (H), Man City (A) and Brighton (H), where all but potentially the trip to the Eastlands should be decent games for Gonzalo to get up to speed and show what he can do. Now that Chelsea progressed in the Carabao cup though, the Brighton fixture in GW27 will have to be rescheduled, resulting in a DGW somewhere down the line. Some believe it might happen as early as GW25 (making him pretty interesting in my book) and some think it’s more likely to be scheduled for later in the season, making his short-term prospects a bit iffier. We should be able to know how this all pans out before the GW24 deadline.

So, are you going Higua-in or taking a more cautious approach?

Perhaps you think Hazard becomes more of an option now again, or maybe you feel that Gonzalo is past his prime and will struggle at Chelsea?

Let me know what your thoughts are in the comment section below!

Meltens