Gonzalo Higuain at Chelsea: Head coach Maurizio Sarri key to forward's six months becoming a success
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Updated 24/01/2019 at 06:36 GMT
Chelsea have signed Gonzalo Higuain on loan for the rest of the season – can the forward pass his six-month audition at Stamford Bridge?
Gonzalo Higuain
Image credit: Getty Images
"When the opportunity to join Chelsea presented itself, I had to take it," Higuain told Chelsea's website. "I now hope I can give back that trust Chelsea have shown me out on the pitch. I can't wait to start and I hope to adapt as soon as possible."
Arriving in January means Higuain will be thrown in at the Premier League’s deep-end, and the striker’s own quotes highlight the pressure he faces to quickly adapt to the demands of a new league.
As he begins his six-month loan spell at Chelsea, who will have the option to extend by another year or buy outright from Juventus for £31m, we weigh up whether Higuain is up to the task.
Will Higuain be a success at Chelsea this season?
A proven, consistent goalscorer
Chelsea are seeking to fill the void left by Diego Costa 18 months ago, who so valuably took up the mantle after Didier Drogba’s trophy-laden eight-year spell at the club.
The stats certainly suggest Chelsea have landed on a consistent goalscorer. Since the start of the 2006-07 season, Higuain’s 224 goals in the big five European leagues (107 in La Liga and 117 in Serie A) can only be bettered by five players.
In those 12 full seasons, Higuain has recorded 20+ goals in six league campaigns. Only Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi (both 10), Robert Lewandowski and Sergio Aguero (both eight) can top that.
A 20+ goalscorer is seen as one of those bare necessities for any championship-winning side. The Premier League champions of the past nine seasons have all boasted at least one player with 20 goals or more – the last occasion this did not occur was Manchester United’s 2008-09 winning campaign, though Cristiano Ronaldo (18) was sufficiently supplemented by Wayne Rooney (12) and Dimitar Berbatov (nine).
- Season - Champions - Their topscorer
- 2017-18 – Man City – Aguero (21)
- 2016-17 – Chelsea – Costa (20)
- 2015-16 – Leicester – Vardy (24)
- 2014-15 – Chelsea – Costa (20)
- 2013-14 – Man City – Toure (20)
- 2012-13 – Man Utd – Van Persie (26)
- 2011-12 – Man City – Aguero (23)
- 2010-11 – Man Utd – Berbatov (20)
- 2009-10 – Chelsea – Drogba (29), Lampard (22)
- 2008-09 – Man Utd – Ronaldo (18)
- *Bold denotes overall PL topscorer
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2017/09/22/2172147-45400350-2560-1440.jpg)
Diego Costa
Image credit: Getty Images
A record-breaking campaign
Higuain’s one-and-only season under Maurizio Sarri at Napoli rightly gives Chelsea fans cause for optimism, for it was his best in front of goal.
The Argentine broke Gunnar Nordahl's 66-year-old Serie A goalscoring record as his 36-goal tally helped Napoli finish second behind Juventus. Though not enough to stop the near-immovable force that is Juve, Sarri’s side recorded more wins (25) and goals (80) than any season since the club’s promotion back to the top tier in 2007.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2019/01/24/2507927-52057250-2560-1440.jpg)
Higuain with Sarri
Image credit: Getty Images
Sarri built a genuine rapport with the player during their only year together. He was honest in calling Higuain ‘lazy’ in pre-season, but this tough-loving slant was down to a desire to make him the best centre-forward in the world. The numbers tell you Sarri’s approach worked.
Upon scoring a final-day hat-trick to seal the record, Higauin said:
I thank Maurizio Sarri, absolutely, which is why after the third goal I went to hug him on the touchline. He helped me so much, he always told me what I had to do in order to improve and I always listened.
Can he reproduce that three years later?
Age stops for no one, and while Higuain was arguably at a peak age of 28/29 during his season under Sarri, he arrives at Stamford Bridge as a 31-year-old with just eight goals from 22 games to his name so far this season.
There will be fears he is a striker in decline, and not capable of reproducing the startling statistics of yesteryear, but in Sarri Chelsea have the coach who can bring out the best in Higuain.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2018/12/29/2490806-51714830-2560-1440.jpg)
Argentine forward Gonzalo Higuain
Image credit: Getty Images
Naturally, confidence is key for any player, but for Higuain – like Alvaro Morata – it appears to be an essential, while he also needs the environment to be just right in order to thrive.
He left Real Madrid for Napoli in 2013 due to sustained periods of unhappiness in Spain as he played in Ronaldo’s shadow and vied for a starting spot with Karim Benzema - “You suffer when you don’t get to play for some time,” he said – while he eventually swapped Napoli for Juventus due to a tumultuous relationship with Napoli chairman president Aurelio De Laurentiis.
Sarri once described Higuain as “sensitive”, and the now Chelsea boss will be aware that in their initial six-month reunion, the player will need to be handled with affection as he takes centre stage in the Premier League.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2019/01/23/2507757-52053850-2560-1440.png)
Gonzalo Higuain signs for Chelsea (Credit @ChelseaFC)
Image credit: Eurosport
Higuain = Happy Hazard?
The Chelsea boss’ much-hyped Sarri-ball has been craving a centre-forward to finish off the hard work that has been started.
Morata failed to deliver, so too Olivier Giroud, leaving Eden Hazard to start in a false-nine position of late.
The arrival of Higuain should see Hazard revert to the left wing, allowing the Belgian to drop deeper and resume in a role he has been far more devastating in over the past few seasons at Chelsea.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2019/01/23/2507630-52051310-2560-1440.jpg)
Chelsea's Italian head coach Maurizio Sarri (L) speaks with Chelsea's Belgian midfielder Eden Hazard (R)
Image credit: Getty Images
Higuain has experience of Sarri’s system, and he will likely be blooded into the starting XI immediately. Following Thursday’s League Cup semi-final second leg against Tottenham, Chelsea are in FA Cup action on the weekend at home to Sheffield Wednesday.
When we will first see Higuain remains to be seen, but the weekend’s cup match, and upcoming Premier League matches at Bournemouth and, in particular, at home to Huddersfield, offer him a great opportunity to hit the ground running.
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement