Chelsea have not made the best of starts to the 2022/23 campaign, and with a recent season-ending injury halting Armando Broja’s promising start to his Blues career, centre-forward reinforcements have now been touted ahead of the January transfer window.
What’s the word?
The likes of Rafael Leao and Dusan Vlahovic are two high-profile names that have been consistently tethered to the Stamford Bridge rumour post across recent months, but Atletico Madrid’s Matheus Cunha could be a shrewd signing to turn the wheel back on track.
According to 90min, Cunha – who has been subject to intense interest from Wolverhampton Wanderers – is now at the centre of further attention from a wealth of Premier League suitors, including Chelsea.
The 23-year-old joined Atletico from Hertha Berlin in summer 2021 in a £22.6m deal but has seemingly found boss Diego Simeone’s defensive philosophy a pothole in the road for his personal success.
Diego Costa 2.0
The departure of Cunha from Atletico appears to be a move which would suit all parties, with his current club seeking to offload his reported wages of £65k-per-week and the player himself seemingly unhappy with his development in Spain as he awaits an approach from England.
Indeed, the 23-year-old has only scored seven goals and supplied eight assists from 54 appearances under Simeone, having failed to score in 17 outings this term, albeit only starting on two occasions.
Last season’s endeavours were far more fruitful, though, as the eight-cap Brazilian plundered seven goals and seven assists from 37 appearances for Atletico, despite only starting nine times.
His utility role in the team does not look to be shifting any time soon, and as such a move away would indeed be welcomed from each angle, should the technicalities be ironed out.
Chelsea would inject a versatile and robust presence into their forward line, with FBref ranking Cunha within the top 2% of positional peers for rate of assists, and the top 4% for tackles and interceptions throughout Europe’s major leagues over the past year.
With the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Raheem Sterling deployed in front of goal, albeit to little effect so far this term, Cunha could provide the creative spark which could get the cogs whirring and roar the Blues’ attacking engine back into life.
The “extraordinary” marksman could offer echoes of former Blues striker Diego Costa with the magnitude of his impact, with the 24-cap Spaniard signing from Cunha’s current club Atletico in a £32m deal in 2014 and proving a smash hit in west London.
Scoring 59 goals and setting up 23 more across 120 appearances for the Blues, winning two Premier League titles and the League Cup across his three-and-a-half year stay at Stamford Bridge, Costa was a devastating presence in England.
If Cunha comes to Chelsea and can emulate such a resounding start to life in London – Costa scored 11 goals across his first ten Premier League matches – then he would certainly bring that uplifting factor to catapult Graham Potter’s back towards the Champions League places.