It’s almost time for Chelsea to return to action.
While most Premier League clubs are spread all across the globe preparing for the new season, Chelsea players are currently on holiday, having a well-earned break, following their exploits at the Club World Cup, beating PSG 3-0 in the final in New Jersey.
Enzo Maresca will have just two pre-season friendlies before their league campaign commences against Crystal Palace, welcoming Bayer Leverkusen to Stamford Bridge on Friday 8 August, before also taking on Internazionale at home two days later.
Before then, how many more new signings will Chelsea supporters have to get excited about?
Chelsea's search for more attackers
As the table below documents, Chelsea have plenty of attacking options in their squad; we’ve attempted to categorize all the many, many players!
New signings
João Pedro
2025
3
Estêvão Willian
2025
Zero
Jamie Gittens
2025
Zero
Kendry Páez
2025
Zero
Liam Delap
2025
6
Existing squad members
Cole Palmer
2023
97
Pedro Neto
2024
51
Tyrique George
2024*
26
Marc Guiu
2024
16
Omari Kellyman
2024
Zero
Expected to leave/unavailable
Raheem Sterling
2022
81
Nicolas Jackson
2023
81
Christopher Nkunku
2023
62
Armando Broja
2020*
38
David Datro Fofana
2023
4
Mykhailo Mudryk
2023
73
*academy graduate; indicates year of senior debut
As the table outlines, Chelsea have a fair few attacking players in the squad, a contingent that’s seemingly only set to increase in size, with Xavi Simons on course to arrive from RB Leipzig for €50m (around £43m), according to James Olley of ESPN.
However, could an even more exciting attacker soon be on his way to Stamford Bridge too?
Well, as reported by journalist Ben Jacobs , Chelsea are plotting a bid to sign Alejandro Garnacho from Manchester United.
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The Argentine international finds himself in exile, told to find a new club by manager Rúben Amorim back in May, currently left behind at Carrington while the team are in the United States, part of the infamous ‘bomb squad’, alongside Jadon Sancho, Antony and Tyrell Malacia.
Earlier this summer, it was reported that Man United were demanding £70m for Garnacho but, given that it’s now public knowledge he is not in their plans, James Ducker of the Telegraph claims he is available for £40m, so could Chelsea secure a bargain?
How Alejandro Garnacho would improve Chelsea
As far back as early June, after they decided to pay a £5m penalty fee to not keep Sancho, Jacob Steinberg of the Guardian reported that Chelsea are ‘prioritising the addition’ of a right-footed left-winger, with Garnacho on their shortlist.
Still only 21 years old, he has scored 26 goals and registered 22 assists in 144 appearances for a generally dysfunctional Man United side, with Statman Dave impressed by his “electric” impact.
Meantime, Andy Mitten of The Athletic notes that he has been one of the Red Devils’ ‘bright sparks’ in recent times, stating that his ‘work rate’ and finishing have both improved, while Kurosh Moghtader of Total Football Analysis labels him a ‘reliable attacking outlet’ who still has ‘room for improvement’.
So, let’s assess how he compares to Simons.
Minutes
2,195
2,157
Goals
5
10
Assists
2
7
Shots
55
33
Shots on target
30
23
Big chances missed
14
2
Chances created
37
50
Big chances created
4
12
Take-on success %
32.1%
37.1%
% of touches in the box
15%
5%
In a near-identical number of league minutes last season, it is true that Simons comes out on top when it comes to goals and assists as well as chances created and dribbling, but Garnacho is often more of a goal-threat, having more shots and taking an exponentially higher proportion of his touches in the opposition penalty area.
Across all competitions too, Garnacho finished with 21 goals and assists in all competitions, ahead of Simons’ return of 19 goal involvements back in Germany.
Two other factors work in Garnacho’s favour too.
First, he is Premier League proven; Chelsea have previous when it comes to signing highly-rated players from the Bundesliga that have not worked out, namely Christopher Nkunku and Timo Werner (both also from RB Leipzig), as well as Kai Havertz too.
Second, there is a clear position available for Garnacho, who favours playing on the left wing, so would be in direct competition with Pedro Neto and Jamie Gittens for starting minutes.
Simons, on the other hand, wants to be deployed as a number ten, a spot predominantly occupied by either an untouchable Cole Palmer or the improving Enzo Fernández, so who knows where he’ll fit in, hence why Garnacho could make the bigger impact, should he arrive for a knocked-down price.
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