Newcastle’s summer target Michy Batshuayi failed to replace Alvaro Morata as Chelsea suffered a stunning 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
On initial inspection, there’s little more Michy Batshuayi can do to win over Chelsea manager Antonio Conte.
Just a matter of days after tapping home a stoppage time winner away at Atletico Madrid in the Champions League last month, one of the greatest European results in The Blues’ history, the Belgian striker was left on the bench as Chelsea welcomed Manchester City to Stamford Bridge.
Even when Alvaro Morata limped off midway through the first-half, Conte shoved Eden Hazard into a more centre forward role and left Batshuayi on the bench until deep into the second half.
Perhaps, then, the former Marseille goal-machine would have been better off moving on loan to Newcastle United in the summer window. The Mail reported in August that there was a chance the newly-promoted Magpies could land the £33 million striker on a loan deal – though Chelsea’s failure to sign a replacement left him stuck in the capital.
If Ian Wright’s assessment of Batshuayi’s performance in the shock defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday is anything to go by, however, Newcastle shouldn’t be too disappointed about their failure to force through a deal.
‘He’s not done anything’
“I said a couple of weeks ago that Batshuayi should be very disappointed that (Conte) would rather put Hazard (at centre-forward). But the problem I’ve got with him is that he’s not making defenders work hard enough to get space to have a chance in the box,” Wright said on BBC’s Match of the Day.
“He doesn’t actually move (the Palace centre-backs) at all because his movement doesn’t have enough intensity about it. There’s nothing in it. He’s not done anything.
“You’re going to get goals if you’re willing to put that work in.”
Batshuayi boasts a more than decent goalscoring ratio coming off the bench, but the fact he started just one Premier League game last season speaks volumes.
Perhaps Batshuayi wouldn’t have been the inspired signing Newcastle were after, and the club may just have dodged a bullet.
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