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Despite being signed for a pretty hefty transfer fee of £33m, less than two years ago, Michy Batshuayi never did seem to fit in properly at Chelsea. The Blues boss, Antonio Conte, didn’t really seem to trust the Belgian striker to lead the line for the Blues and it was unsurprising when he was loaned out to Borussia Dortmund in January’s transfer window.
But have Chelsea made a mistake in allowing Batshuayi to head to the Bundesliga? Quite possibly. Despite some Chelsea fans’ feeling that the Belgian isn’t quite good enough for their club, the truth is that right now, the Blues could do with a player like him. Here are five reasons why Chelsea should never have allowed him to move.
#5 He’s hit the ground running at Dortmund
Say what you will about the quality of the Bundesliga in comparison to the Premier League, but there’s no denying that Batshuayi has hit the ground running since his move to Germany. You simply can’t argue with five goals in six appearances. That’s a great strike rate for any forward and while he hasn’t scored in his last two games, it feels like it’ll only be a matter of time before he hits the back of the net again.
Granted, the two Bundesliga sides he’s scored against – Hamburger SV and FC Cologne – are currently propping up the table in 17th and 18th place respectively, but as any analyst will tell you, it’s just as important for strikers to be hitting the net against weaker teams as it is for them to score against the stronger ones.
Batshuayi is clearly relishing the chance to be a first-choice striker for once – he’s started all of Dortmund’s games since his move to the club and has played the full 90 minutes in all of them too - and judging by his showings thus far - Chelsea could easily have made more use of him.
#4 His goal ratio at Chelsea was good anyway
Look at his statistics on the surface of things and you could easily jump to the conclusion that Batshuayi was consistently misfiring during his time at Stamford Bridge – his goal record in 2016/17 was 9 goals in 28 games across all competitions, and this season it didn’t really improve – 10 goals in 25 games. But that’s only half the story.
That’s because Batshuayi was always an extremely rare starter at Chelsea – in fact, 19 of his 20 Premier League appearances in 2016/17 came from the substitutes’ bench. 2017/18, prior to his move to Dortmund, was no better – 3 starts in 12 appearances for the Belgian. Suddenly, that goal record doesn’t look all that bad.
It looks even better when you consider his goals-per-minute ratio. In 2016/17 he featured for a total of 239 minutes in the Premier League and scored 5 goals – a ratio of a goal every 47.5 minutes. This season he scored 2 goals in 353 minutes; a ratio of a goal every 176.5 minutes, but throw in his lone assist and it means the Belgian was involved in a goal every 117 minutes – just over a goal per game. That suddenly looks pretty good, and throws into question why he was never given a fair chance.
#3 Chelsea could do with him
Chelsea’s strike force has been somewhat of a question mark practically all season, but particularly after the early run of goals from their newest big signing Alvaro Morata dried up. The Spanish striker scored twelve goals for the Blues prior to the New Year, but since then he’s failed to hit the back of the net even once.
Conte purchased Olivier Giroud from Arsenal during the January transfer window in order to bolster Chelsea’s attacking options, but he hasn’t really been a major hit yet either – he’s made four appearances thus far and has scored one goal, but he’s only started in two games and has yet to complete a full 90 minutes for his new side. Which begs the question, why splash out almost £20m to buy him in the first place?
It doesn’t make sense, particularly when Chelsea could already call upon Batshuayi, prior to sending him on loan of course. If Chelsea wanted a new first-choice striker then they certainly didn’t sign one in Giroud, and if they were looking for backup for Morata then they already had a man who fit the bill. And lord knows Chelsea could do with Batshuayi’s goal threat right now – since the start of 2018 they’ve won just two league games and have drawn a blank on four occasions too.
#2 He’s young and could improve further
While Batshuayi is in the seventh season of his professional career and is closing in on 200 professional league games and 300 in all competitions, he’s still very young at just 24 years old. It’s true that the likes of Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku – similarly aged players – are leaps and bounds ahead of him right now, but that doesn’t mean that it’s worth writing the Belgian off just yet.
Look at Jamie Vardy, for instance. At the age of 31 he’s still managed to hit 15 goals in all competitions this season, and at the same age as Batshuayi is now, he wasn’t even playing fully professional football, as he was still starring for Conference North side Halifax Town. It’s clearly possible to make it to the top at a slightly later age, and that means that Batshuayi has a lot of time on his hands.
By sending him on loan to Dortmund, the likelihood is that Chelsea are simply writing Batshuayi off as a potentially top class striker. And that’s a massive mistake. They can’t base their opinion of the Belgian on a handful of appearances for the club, largely as a substitute. This loan move isn’t like Tammy Abraham’s to Swansea – a young player gaining experience – as it’s likely to lead to a permanent move. Which is crazy for Chelsea as he could well improve and become world-class in the future.
#1 Chelsea have a history of missing out on top class players
If Chelsea do look back in a few years and realise they made a mistake by allowing Batshuayi to move on loan, it wouldn’t be the first time they allowed a class player to slip through their fingertips. Both Romelu Lukaku and Kevin de Bruyne once represented the Blues, but a string of loan moves for the two lead to permanent ones and suddenly Chelsea had missed out on a couple of world-class talents.
Current reports suggest that Dortmund hold out little hope of signing the Belgian on a permanent deal, but it’s more to do with the fact that they didn’t have a first refusal clause written into their deal with Chelsea rather than the possibility of the Blues taking him back. According to Dortmund, top European clubs are already sniffing around the striker.
That’s why Chelsea slipped up in allowing him to move on loan. Had they kept Batshuayi as backup for Morata – and used him as an occasional starter, checking his progress until he was ready to become the top dog – then the likelihood is that few clubs would’ve been interested. But with the spotlight on him at Dortmund, someone is almost bound to come in for him. Meaning he could well end up as the next Lukaku or de Bruyne, and Chelsea could end up with egg on their faces again.
