Opinion: Chelsea miss out on potential bargain of the season as Dortmund win €17.5m transfer race

Dortmund-bound Serhou Guirassy could have turned Chelsea’s fortunes around

The transfer rumours regarding Stuttgart striker Serhou Guirassy can finally be put to rest, as Fabrizio Romano has given a “here we go” to the Guinea international’s move to Borussia Dortmund.

Guirassy was in red-hot form for the Bundesliga club last season as they bounced back from a relegation-threatened campaign from the season before to beat Bayern Munich to second place in the league behind Bayer Leverkusen.

After producing 30 goals and 3 assists in 30 appearances for Stuttgart across all competitions, it was clear that Guirassy would not stay at the club beyond the 2023/24 season, especially given the dirt-cheap €17.5m release clause in his contract that many clubs were willing to activate.

In the Premier League, Arsenal and Chelsea were leading the race for his signature and also faced competition from AC Milan, but none could convince the Guinean to leave Germany.

Known for their free-spending nature under the new regime, Chelsea have missed a real trick in not doing everything in their power to sign Guirassy.

What Guirassy would have brought

Finishing their chances was more of an issue last season for Chelsea than creating them. They were fourth in big chances created last season, which is higher than both their xG and their final finish in the table, establishing the missing link: finishing.

Nicolas Jackson in his debut season was exciting, but it was evident that he needed support in the squad to share the goal-scoring burden. As good as Cole Palmer was from out wide, Chelsea needed a finisher in the centre of the pitch.

This is where Guirassy would have helped. At 28, he’s entered his prime years and would have proved to be an inexpensive short-to-mid-term solution to help Jackson evolve into a complete forward over the coming years as he took some of the goal-scoring responsibilities.

Having a proper finisher last season could have potentially helped Chelsea overcome the five-point deficit from fourth-placed Aston Villa and grab themselves a Champions League spot, also saving Mauricio Pochettino‘s job in the process. This season, too, the Blues enter the summer needing a clinical striker as another new manager looks to the skies in need of help, help that Guirassy could have provided.

Given they’re also linked to the likes of Barcelona’s Marc Guiu, Aston Villa’s Jhon Duran, Lille’s Jonathan David, Atlético Madrid’s Samu Omorodion, Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke, Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak, one can expect Chelsea to get in a forward sooner or later this summer, but they could have stopped their search early on by signing Guirassy and use the money at their disposal to fund acquisitions for other areas of the pitch.

Conclusion

Chelsea fans know all too well the mercurial might of a late-blooming striker capable of changing the club’s fortunes overnight. After all, Didier Drogba was already 26 by the time he arrived at Stamford Bridge.

That did not stop him from becoming a club legend, however. And while one might consider it hyperbolic to call Serhou Guirassy capable of similar miracles, one can say that here was a player capable enough to spearhead Chelsea’s charge back to the upper echelon of the Premier League.

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Expect Chelsea to get a forward this summer, but there is no doubt they have missed quite the trick in not landing Guirassy.