Given that Chelsea’s pursuit of Erling Braut Haaland is, as expected, proving incredibly difficult, bordering on impossible, and with Romelu Lukaku unlikely to leave Inter Milan this summer, it wouldn’t be surprising if Chelsea were also monitoring alternative targets at striker. (Ed.note: but apparently still not including one already in the team, called Tammy Abraham.)
According to a few rumblings this week, including from Sky Deutschland, Chelsea are one of the teams monitoring Patson Daka, the next big thing in the Red Bull football system, currently lighting up the scoring charts with RB Salzburg in Austria. While the 22-year-old is surely bound for RB Leipzig sooner or later, Liverpool and Chelsea are among the teams ready to test the waters with a concrete approach if given the opportunity.
Robert Lewandowski’s closest under-23 match is Patson Daka of Salzburg. David Okereke (Brugge) was also a close matches.#SimilarPlayers #Doppelganger pic.twitter.com/sfhbKuSEqD
— StatsBomb (@StatsBomb) November 25, 2020
While Daka isn’t the “next Haaland” in terms of style and profile, he does remind of a certain Robert Lewandowski. The Zambia international has scored 61 goals in 96 games for Salzburg over the last two seasons, including 34 in 42 just this past season, adding 12 assists to his tally as well. The Austrian league obviously isn’t the toughest, but those are eye-popping numbers just the same.
Meanwhile, closer to home, Leeds United have dropped their interest in Michy Batshuayi, as per Goal, after they were put off by our £15m valuation. Batshuayi had also been linked with Aston Villa earlier, but those rumors seem to be dead in the water as well. Let’s hope Michy scores a couple goals at the Euros to revive some interest from somewhere...