Chelsea appear to have found their new head coach and look set to complete an appointment in the coming days to kickstart a new era at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues decided to mutually end Mauricio Pochettino’s time with the London giants earlier this month and Leicester City boss Enzo Maresca is now on the verge of a move to the club.
Fabrizio Romano claims that the Italian boss has agreed a five-year contract, with the option of a sixth, to join the Premier League side this summer, with compensation due for the Foxes.
Maresca just secured promotion to the top-flight with the Midlands club, having won the Championship, and is now ready to take on the task of helping Chelsea to compete for silverware next season.
The upcoming summer transfer window will provide the former Manchester City coach with an opportunity to shape his squad and the Blues are already reportedly looking at a potential new centre-forward to bolster the team.
Chelsea seriously considering swoop for £60m marksman
According to journalist Simon Phillips, in his Substack post, Chelsea are ‘seriously’ lining up a possible move to sign RB Leipzig marksman Benjamin Sesko.
He states that a striker is the biggest priority for Todd Boehly and his team for the off-season, whilst they are also considering a new goalkeeper, centre-back, left-back, and a winger.
The reporter claims that the Blues are weighing up whether or not to trigger the 20-year-old star’s release clause with the German side, which Phillips cites as being £60m as per German reports.
They have until the end of June to exercise the option to trigger that deal but they would like to structure the payment rather than paying the £60m up front, which means that the London side will need to negotiate a move with Leipzig.
Phillips adds that Sesko is a ‘top’ striker candidate and that he has moved further up their shortlist of number nine targets ahead of the summer window.
He also reveals that other teams are interested in the Slovenia international and that it could become a competition to secure his signature ahead of the 2024/25 campaign.
This means that Chelsea may need to act quickly and trigger his £60m release clause as soon as possible to win the race for his services this summer.
If they do decide to bring Sesko to Stamford Bridge over the coming weeks or months then Maresca could end up with his own version of Didier Drogba.
Why Benjamin Sesko is similar to Didier Drogba
Like the Ivorian legend, the young Leipzig star is a physically intimidating player at the height of 6 foot 5, three inches taller than the former Chelsea and Marseille star in fact.
Of his 104 Premier League goals for the Blues, Drogba scored 17 headers by using his frame to out muscle and out jump opposition defenders before using his finishing skills to find the back of the net with his efforts.
Five of Sesko’s 14 goals for Leipzig in the Bundesliga this season came with his head, which shows that the young ace excels in the air and can leap above his opponents to head the ball in from crosses and set-pieces.
These statistics suggest that the Slovenian whiz, who won 57% of his aerial duels in the Bundesliga, can be a focal point at the top end of the pitch for Chelsea with his physical attributes and ability in the air, much like Drogba was.
Along with being excellent in the air, the now-retired number nine was a prolific scorer who consistently found the back of the net for the London giants.
| Didier Drogba’s scoring consistency | ||
|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | Premier League | Champions League |
| Appearances | 254 | 74 |
| Goals | 104 | 36 |
| Assists | 64 | 12 |
| Stats via Transfermarkt | ||
Drogba, who arrived off the back of a return of 19 goals in 35 Ligue 1 games for Marseille in 2004, went on to rack up 164 goals in 381 matches in all competitions for the Blues during his time in England.
Didier Drogba days 😌🇨🇮 pic.twitter.com/PfMNvyotR5
— Premier League (@premierleague) January 13, 2024
This means that Sesko needs to do more than just be good in the air to be considered Maresca’s own version of the Ivorian forward but his statistics in Germany and Austria suggest that the potential is there for him to follow in Drogba’s footsteps as a goalscorer as well.
Why Chelsea should sign Benjamin Sesko
Along with his similarities to Drogba from a physical and stylistic perspective, the 20-year-old star is also a prolific goalscorer who has the potential to be a lethal finisher for the incoming Blues boss.
The Chelsea target plundered a whopping 16 goals in 23 Austrian Bundesliga starts for RB Salzburg last season before his move to Leipzig ahead of the current campaign.
He followed that up with a return of 18 goals and two assists in 42 appearances in all competitions for the German side, despite not earning himself a spot as a regular starter until the second half of the term.
Sesko only started 17 of his 31 matches in the Bundesliga for Leipzig but still managed to rack up an impressive tally of 14 goals in his first year in a major European league.
| 23/24 season | Benjamin Sesko (Bundesliga) | Nicolas Jackson (Premier League) |
|---|---|---|
| Starts | 17 | 31 |
| xG | 7.66 | 18.64 |
| Goals | 14 | 14 |
| xG +/- | +6.34 | -4.64 |
| Conversion rate | 30% | 18% |
| Aerial duel success rate | 57% | 36% |
| Stats via Sofascore | ||
As you can see in the table above, the £60m-rated marksman significantly outperformed current Chelsea number nine Nicolas Jackson at league level.
Sesko, who was dubbed a future “goalscoring machine” by talent scout Jacek Kulig, was incredibly prolific in the Bundesliga by overperforming his xG by around six goals, whereas the Senegal international underperformed his by almost five.
This suggests that the 18-goal gem, who is two years younger than Jackson, would be far more reliable in front of goal than the ex-Villarreal forward.
The Leipzig star’s impressive goalscoring record, and quality of finishing, at the age of just 20 speaks to his immense potential and is another reason why he could be Maresca’s own Drogba.
