Chelsea cult hero Pat Nevin believes his former club made the right decision not to sign Karim Benzema this month despite not having a top goal scorer.
The 36-year-old Frenchman currently plays for Al Ittihad in the Saudi Arabian Pro League but was tipped by his agent about a potential deal mid-season after struggling to settle in Saudi Arabia.
Benzema made a late return to training after taking unjustified time off last off-season. His art has also been criticized. He criticized and deleted his Instagram account, which had 76 million followers.
In January last year, Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal were mentioned as candidates to sign Benzema. But Athletic claim the Blues are not interested, despite the prospect of signing the 2022 Ballon d’Or winner.
They want to avoid big-money moves for older players and instead focus on signing elite talent in progress development like Cole Palmer.
That raises the prospect of a summer move for a striker like Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, but Mauricio Pochettino’s side can make do with the ruthless finish for now.
They are 10th in the Premier League and nine goals under target (35 goals at 44.01xG). Only Everton, another former club of ex-Scotland winger Nevin, has produced more this season (24 goals at 37.82xG, -13.82 diff).
The only Chelsea player to reach double figures in all competitions is Palmer, who took five penalties and scored 11 goals during the summer.
And Nevin said Chelsea’s previous example of a move for Benzema would not work. Instead, the Scots believe the Londoners will be better off if they follow Todd Bohley’s strategy of attracting young talent.
He told Express Sport via LiveScore Bet: “If it works I think it will be a worthwhile move. The point is to look at Chelsea’s history. “It’s a different Chelsea. It’s unfair to compare them.” It’s really unfair.
Compare them with Abramovich’s time [in Rome]. You know, they did everything. I did it very differently. Everything was completely different. Employees are different.
This is another club. ”But look at the situation since then. It’s time to bring in some of the most famous players in world football as centre-forwards.
It was unbelievable that it didn’t work.” It’s also completely against everything they’ve tried so far.
“Their overall methodology was the same. And all the eggs are in that basket. If you suddenly go and take Benzema, everything disappears.
Then you say: Okay, now let’s try. I think a lot of people are asking a lot of questions. So don’t believe now.“People ask those questions and it’s fair and understandable.
All I can say is, if you ever find yourself in my situation, you might want to give it a try.
But, like many people, I have been saying for some time that if we could take Osimhen or someone else with us, it would make a lot more sense, because it would not be a temporary treatment. “
