Jody Morris has said Chelsea need more ruthlessness in the final third. Poor finishing has cost Chelsea recently and they are pondering how to improve their attacking options this month, with Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha, Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho, Lyon’s Moussa Dembélé and RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner prominent on their list of targets.
Morris, who spoke to the media because Frank Lampard was suffering from a sickness bug before their FA Cup tie against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, delivered a forthright assessment after being asked if Chelsea’s young forwards need to develop a nastier mentality.
“There needs to be ruthlessness to your game and you need to be clinical,” Chelsea’s assistant manager said. “There are moments in games where maybe we would like some of them to be a bit more nasty but we’ve certainly proved we can be like that. We’ve gone into games and out-fought teams and worked harder.
“The relentlessness of our work rate has been good most of the time but you do need that little bit of quality. You need to perform when your stock has gone up and people start valuing you as a player more. It’s the same as a team. When a team sets up and start working you out more you need to rely on a few players to perform, particularly further up the pitch.”
Lampard wants attacking reinforcements now that Chelsea’s transfer ban has been lifted. It is thought that Sancho is open to the idea of a move to Stamford Bridge, though Dortmund would demand at least £100m for the England winger and are determined not to sell him until the summer. Chelsea, who are also monitoring Villarreal’s Samuel Chukwueze and CSKA Moscow’s Fyodor Chalov, will face a similar problem with Werner. The Germany forward is the biggest star at Leipzig, who are top of the Bundesliga and in the last 16 of the Champions League. Meanwhile Lyon have publicly ruled out a January move for Dembélé, the former Celtic forward.
Sources close to Lampard have not ruled out the possibility of a bid for Zaha. The Palace winger favours a move to Stamford Bridge and is desperately seeking a new challenge. However Zaha’s contract runs until 2023 and Chelsea will think hard before deciding to meet Palace’s valuation, which is set at £80m.
Lampard is also in the market for a defender but is yet to decide whether to trigger a buyback clause which will allow Chelsea to sign Nathan Aké for £40m, which is well below the Bournemouth defender’s market value. It is understood that Lampard has reservations about Ake, who has also been linked with Arsenal and Manchester City.
Chelsea will look to shift some of their squad’s lesser lights in January. Danny Drinkwater’s loan at Burnley has been cut short and the midfielder is a loan target for Aston Villa, who are also interested in Michy Batshuayi. Villa need a forward after Wesley was ruled out for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury.
Villa have been linked with Pedro, who is out of contract at the end of the season, while Olivier Giroud wants to leave Chelsea. Internazionale, Lyon, Palace and Bordeaux are interested in Giroud. However Inter have been put off by Chelsea’s asking price for the French striker and are also surprised by the Premier League club’s high valuation of Marcos Alonso, the Spanish left-back.