Once again, Antonio Conte chose not to use Michy Batshuayi in lieu of Alvaro Morata – making it pretty clear that the Belgian is not in his plans. So where to next? Here are three Premier League options:
Newcastle United
Newcastle United are crying out for a goalscorer, it’s quite painful actually. The Magpies have notched just 16 all season and are languishing down in the relegation zone because of it.
Rafa Benitez builds his teams around having a strong defence, but even the strongest defence will crack if under sufficient pressure and the fact that Newcastle can never make the most of what attacks they are able to create.
Newcastle have created 227 shots (8th amongst all Premier League sides) to get that return of 16 goals, which is a total that lands them 15th amongst all clubs. A striker of Batshuayi’s proven goalscoring ability would add the cutting edge to lift them out of the relegation zone.
Southampton
Southampton are in much the same boat as Newcastle are; they created 224 chances but scored just 17 goals. They’re simply not consistent enough in front of goal, although this is because of the injury-prone nature of Charlie Austin.
Austin is a goalscoring dynamo when fit, but he’s as fragile as cracked porcelain. Michy Batshuayi is much more resistant to injury and, moreover, because Chelsea have used him so sparingly since signing him for £30m, he would arrive at Southampton largely free of the kind of wear and tear that can destroy a player.
A short-term loan would be an undoubted success for both Batshuayi and Southampton, which could lead to a bigger transfer from Chelsea or a permanent move to Southampton which would obviously put him a season or two away from signing for Liverpool!
Burnley
This sounds utterly ridiculous at first, but consider how well Burnley are doing right now. They sit 6th in the Premier League, just six points behind Chelsea themselves.
Burnley have achieved this miracle by virtue of their incredibly organised defence, conceding just 12 goals (joint-best in the division with the two Manchester sides). However they have scored only 16 goals, which leaves them with a wafer thin goal difference of +4.
But if Burnley were to add a player like Michy Batshuayi? The Belgian has played just 122 minutes of Champions League football this season, taking only 5 shots. Yet he’s scored twice, including the last minute winner away to Atlético Madrid.
Like the other deals, Burnley don’t have the funds to sign him permanently, but it could be an incredible loan move until the end of the season, a place for Batshuayi to bag some big goals and possibly fire himself into Belgian’s World Cup squad.
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