Chelsea's swoop for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has already been questioned after his goalless start to life at Stamford Bridge following his deadline day switch, despite playing just two games since his arrival from Barcelona.
The Blues have been calling out for a new striker after Romelu Lukaku’s poor start to life in west London last season and Timo Werner’s inconsistency in front of goal but, following their departures this summer, Aubameyang was lined up as the perfect replacement.
And even though £10million is a low price for a player of his quality, the former Arsenal captain has already been doubted over his role in Chelsea ’s attack this season following two underwhelming performances for the Blues.
Thomas Tuchel had shut down Todd Boehly’s attempts to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United this summer in favour of recruiting Aubameyang, and handed him his debut in the 1-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in Chelsea’s opening Group E fixture in the UEFA Champions League.
Aubameyang had been excited to reunite with his former Borussia Dortmund manager, whom he scored a remarkable 79 goals in 95 games under, but featured for just 59 minutes under the German before he was sacked as a result of that defeat in Croatia.
Graham Potter has since come in and opted to stick with Aubameyang in attack for his first game in charge, a 1-1 draw with RB Salzburg a week later, with the Gabon international lasting 66 minutes and failing to impress.
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From his first two fixtures, Aubameyang has failed to record a single one of his three shots on goal and has been caught offside five times, as per infogoal. As a result, Peter Crouch told BT Sport that he believes 33-year-old is “lacking confidence”, while ex-Blues defender Scott Minto told talkSPORT he “looked a mile off it”.
The former Arsenal forward has been wearing a protective mask after suffering a broken jaw whilst trying to protect his family from four robbers during a house raid before he left Barcelona, and has explained his underwhelming start to life on his Premier League return as not being '100%' right since the incident.
Following the draw with Salzburg last week, Aubameyang said: "I’m going to need more time, I’m not 100% fine, it’s not easy to play with a mask and an injury, let’s hope I recover 100% as soon as possible”.
But former Premier League striker Troy Deeney has already seen enough to look beyond Aubameyang at Chelsea and has urged Boehly to make a move for Brentford hit man Ivan Toney..
Toney already has five goals and two assists in seven Premier League outings this term and has just received his first England call-up from Gareth Southgate ahead of the Nations League games against Italy and Germany this month. "This guy has proven for a few years now that he can do it on the next level," Deeney wrote in his latest column for The Sun.
"If he has the year he will likely have, even Chelsea will be keeping an eye on him. He could go there long-term and be a real success under Graham Potter. You look at the certain type of striker nowadays, your Darwin Nunez or Erling Haaland who are 6ft-plus and are mobile and can score all different types of goals, you have to put Ivan in that category."
