Callum Wilson. Since gaining promotion to the top flight in 2014 with Bournemouth, like his club, he has taken to the Premier League like a duck to water.
In recent years, his performances have seen many claim he should be called up for his England debut. However, more recently, it has apparently put him on Chelsea’s radar. According to the Mirror, the Blues are keeping a close eye on the Bournemouth talisman.
With that in mind, we will compare Wilson to Chelsea’s current striking options and assess what he could bring to the club.
Player Comparison: End Product
Although, the football under Maurizio Sarri has been great to watch, Chelsea have been a tad reliant on the ability of Eden Hazard. The Belgian currently has 11 goals in all competitions this season and is thriving back on the wing.
However, as we can see below Sarri hasn’t been able to find the same consistency from his strike force. Whereas Wilson is everything but inconsistent.
Although Morata is just one goal off Wilson in the Premier League, its clear to see that Wilson has much more to his game.
Not only does he score goals but he also creates for those around him. This is something that Olivier Giroud is often praised for and as we can see above, is very effective at. But with Morata being Sarri’s current striker, its fair to say that Wilson’s 17 chances created would help Chelsea a lot more than the Spaniard’s four.
Working with similar types of wide men at Bournemouth, Wilson could well work seamlessly with Hazard. With Hazard being that much better also, it’ll take Wilson’s game up a notch.
Player Comparison: More Than A Goalscorer
As it is the fashion these days, most strikers need to be able to do more than just score goals. This means that they have to contribute in all phases of play. Whether that’s acting as a first defender or a clinical striker.
Above we can see that Wilson is far more versatile in his style of play. Doubling Morata’s take on success we can see he is willing to dribble with the ball at his feet. With his pace, that would without doubt scare defenders. This is something that neither Morata or Giroud do at the moment.
However, he also gets himself about off the ball. Many strikers are now instructed to press their opposition defenders. With 22 dispossess (double Morata’s) we can see this is an area that Wilson could thrive in.
Finally, he may not be as effective as Giroud in the air but with 24 aerial duels won he can definitely make a difference.
Summary
Overall, Callum Wilson could be a great signing for Chelsea. A player with many facets to his game, football fans understand his quality but being at Bournemouth possibly holds him back.
So far in his career he’s embraced new challenges and injury setbacks so it’d be interesting to see how he fares at a club like Chelsea. Especially as the numbers suggest he could definitely compete with the strikers already at the club.
