The transfer talk has been dominated by what and who Chelsea needs. With Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen leaving and possibly Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso to follow, Chelsea’s most pressing need is to buy some new defenders.
However, much of the focus has been on a striker to replace Romelu Lukaku, who is almost certain to join Inter Milan on loan this week. Chelsea has been strongly linked with Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling and bar the highly unlikely rumour-fuelled transfers of Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar. Few direct replacements for Lukaku seem to be on the shopping list.
If Chelsea does sign Sterling and not a more like-for-like replacement in the form of a more traditional Number 9, it may give us some insight into where Thomas Tuchel sees the attack going. And that would appear to be a more effective version of the fluid front three, like that deployed by Liverpool and Man City.
