Chelsea in contact to sign “the new Haaland”

Chelsea are the champions of the world.

On Sunday, in an outcome simply no one saw coming, the Blues demolished Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 in the Club World Cup Final.

The game was all over by half-time, with Cole Palmer scoring two near-identical goals just eight minutes apart at MetLife Stadium, before João Pedro rubber-stamped the victory with an impudent dink over Gianluigi Donnarumma on the cusp of the interval.

So, a statement success stateside this summer for Enzo Maresca’s side but, in less than five weeks’ time, the Blues will begin their Premier League campaign against Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge, and you can bet your bottom dollar they’ll be busy in the transfer market between now and then.

Chelsea’s search for a centre-forward

Already this summer, Chelsea have spent big on not one but two strikers.

First, Liam Delap arrived from Ipswich for a reported fee of £30m, with the Englishman scoring his first goal for the club against Espérance Sportive de Tunis during the group stages of the tournament.

However, by the end, he had been usurped in the pecking order by João Pedro, arriving from Brighton for £60m, on target twice against his former club Fluminense in the Club World Cup semi-finals, not a bad way to mark your full-debut, before netting in the final too.

Now though, according to a report by TBR Football, Chelsea are ‘in contact’ with the representatives of Benjamin Šeško, who is looking to move to the Premier League this summer, while Liverpool, Newcastle United and Manchester United are all mentioned as being interested too.

How Benjamin Šeško would improve Chelsea

Earlier this summer, the Slovenian’s most likely destination appeared to be Arsenal, but the Gunners are now ‘in the process of completing a deal’ to sign Viktor Gyökeres instead, as reported by David Ornstein and Mario Cortegana of The Athletic.

So, could Šeško, who is valued at around £78m, still end up in London, only now wearing blue and donning a Champions of the World patch on his chest?

Well, still only 22 years old, Šeško’s performances for Leipzig have certainly caught the eye.

Writer Andreas Andersen labels him “clinical”, praising his “incredible athleticism” and asserting he possesses “everything to become world-class”.

Meantime, Brandon Liss of Total Football Analysis believes that he is an ‘exciting young talent’ who boasts exceptional ‘pace and physicality’, while he’s also been labelled as “the new Haaland” by talent scout Jacek Kulig.

Now though, the question remains. Is he a bigger talent than Pedro? Let’s find out.

As the table outlines, Šeško is much more of a clinical finisher and a natural goal-scorer than Pedro, scoring more goals and mustering more shots, a higher proportion of which find the target.

In total, Šeško scored 21 times across all competitions last season, including four in the Champions League, while the most Pedro has ever enjoyed in a single campaign is 20, reaching that tally for Brighton in 2023/24.

So, despite having already signed Delap and Pedro, while Nicolas Jackson, Christopher Nkunku and Marc Guiu remain on their books, you wouldn’t put it past Chelsea to splurge their Club World Cup winners on Šeško, would you?