Chelsea targeting “generational” £100m talent

As it is every year, this summer has been a hectic one for Chelsea.

On top of winning the Club World Cup and making a reasonably good start to their Premier League campaign, the Blues have been very active in the transfer market.

The board has backed Enzo Maresca with several exciting additions, including Joao Pedro, Jamie Gittens, Jorrel Hato, and Liam Delap.

However, much to the disappointment of some fans, they do appear to have missed out on Xavi Simons, although if reports are to be believed, they’re now targeting someone who’d be an even better signing.

Chelsea target better signing than Simons

Chelsea have been involved in several transfer sagas this summer, and one of the most protracted concerned Simons, who at one point looked destined to join the club.

However, after waiting for months and then finding out the Blues weren’t all that sold on him, the RB Leipzig gem decided to move to Tottenham Hotspur and put pen to paper on a seven-year contract.

Now, some sections of the fanbase are understandably upset about seeing such a talented player join their rivals, but it now looks like the West Londoners are eyeing an even better signing.

At least that is according to Ben Jacobs, who has claimed Chelsea are interested in Adam Wharton.

The journalist has revealed that the Crystal Palace gem is now on the club’s list of targets, but that he will be incredibly difficult to sign this summer.

Moreover, reports from earlier this summer claimed that it could cost as much as £100m to get him out of Selhurst Park this year.

With that said, even if Chelsea have to wait a year, Wharton would be an incredible pick up and a better signing than Simons.

Why Wharton would be a better signing than Simons

So, the first reason Wharton would be a better signing than Simons for Chelsea, and a hugely significant one, is that he’s already proven in the Premier League.

Despite still being only 21 years old, the “generational” talent, as dubbed by Matthew Stanger, has already made 38 appearances in the competition and looked like he belonged from the very first one.

Now, it is undoubtedly the case that the Dutchman has more top-flight experience under his belt, but that has come in leagues which are considered to be significantly weaker.

For example, Opta Analyst ranks the English top-flight as the toughest in the world, by quite some margin.

At the same time, the Bundesliga ranks fourth, Ligue 1 fifth, and the Dutch Eredivisie tenth, trailing the Brazilian, Belgian, and Portuguese top flights.

In other words, we know that the former Blackburn Rovers gem is more than capable of becoming a superstar in the Premier League, which cannot be said about the former PSV Eindhoven ace, especially when numerous players have looked outstanding in Germany but flopped in England, such as Timo Werner.

Finally, when you step back and take a look under the hood, the already-capped international’s underlying numbers scream that he’s destined for greatness.

According to FBref, he ranks in the top 5% of midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues for expected goals and ball recoveries, the top 7% for crosses into the penalty area, the top 8% for shot-creating actions, the top 1% for key passes and more, all per 90.

Not only are these numbers elite, but they paint a picture of an all-action midfielder who’s as brilliant at starting attacks as he is snuffing them out.

Ultimately, Simons appears to be a great player for Spurs, but Wharton seems destined to become a superstar; therefore, he would be the far better signing.