Chelsea owner Todd Boehly appears to have found the man charged with the responsibility of lifting the club from the despair of this season to new heights in 2023/24; Mauricio Pochettino.
The Argentinian will reportedly take over at the end of the season and there are several areas of the squad that he will need to improve, starting with his forward options.
The club have scored just 36 times in the Premier League this term, with only three teams scoring more and an upgrade on their current options is a necessity for Pochettino during the summer.
According to the Daily Mail, Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez is the ‘most likely’ centre-forward target for the Stamford Bridge outfit in the transfer window.
Football Transfers have valued the player at €81.6m (£72m) and Boehly will again have to splash the cash in order to sign him.
The attacker would certainly be a major upgrade on their current attacking options and the Argentinian is also statistically similar to Robert Lewandowski, suggesting finding the back of the net on a regular basis shouldn’t be a problem.
How is Lautaro Martinez similar to Robert Lewandowski?
The Pole has scored a whopping 540 goals throughout his club career, emerging as one of the finest strikers of his generation mainly through his goal-laden spell at Bayern Munich.
Coincidentally, he is the fourth-most similar player to Martinez according to FBref, suggesting luring the Inter striker to London could be a major coup.
The duo have registered similar league stats this term with regard to goals (20 to 21), shots on target per 90 (1.92 to 1.82) and goal-creating actions per 90 (0.52 to 0.47), proving that they are both rampant threats in the opposing penalty area.
Across Europe’s big five leagues, Martinez is ranked in the top 10% for non-penalty goals and total shots, while Lewandowski is also among the continent's finest, ranking in the top 10% for the same performance metrics, with the pair evidently ahead of the vast majority of other strikers in Europe.
Martinez has been in sparkling form this term, scoring 24 goals in 51 matches and bagging a goal every 121 minutes in Serie A while creating eight big chances and scoring 0.6 goals per game.
The Barcelona striker has also registered similar statistics in La Liga, scoring every 119 minutes, creating seven big chances and netting 0.7 goals each match with the two strikers clearly performing at extremely high levels.
It’s no wonder Martinez was lauded as being “special” by journalist Roy Nemer a few years ago, having hit impressive heights since making the move to Europe. Could Pochettino turn him into one of the finest forwards in the Premier League? Having been compared to Lewandowski, you'd certainly think so.