Italian football expert Adam Digby has delivered promising news to Chelsea fans regarding why he expects Gonzalo Higuain to succeed at Chelsea.
“Throughout Sarri’s career, the one striker who has thrived the most under his guidance has been Gonzalo Higuain,” he told the Transfer Talk podcast.
“Higuain was so important when he scored 36 goals in 35 games for Napoli, breaking the single season scoring record in Serie A long the way that had stood for over 60 years. They developed a bond that Sarri finds hard to let go of.
“They are more than friends. Both of them have referred to it as a father/ son relationship.
“Given Sarri’s age that’s fully understandable. Even when Higuain left Napoli for Juve, there was a lot of bad blood between the two clubs, between the two sets of supporters, between the Napoli owner and Higuain.
Higuain famously taunted Aurelio De Laurentiis after a number of goals he scored against Napoli for Juve.
“But him and Sarri were always close through that. They were hugging on the pitch and it really does go above and beyond football it seems.”
“He’s got over 20 goals in each of his seasons in Italy so far but that never seemed lucky or possible at Milan,” he said.
“They are in such disarray there. The system doesn’t work with him. He doesn’t work in the system. Whichever way you look at it, it’s a bad fit all round.
“The player that Chelsea are getting is the same player that we saw at Juve, and mentally as well.
“Sarri’s style has been well-documented as a quick passing, slow build-up, patient approach but it’s more than that. It’s a clearly defined system for each and every player.
“If he wants his right-back to do a certain amount of things, he wants the right winger to do a certain number of jobs.
He expects central midfielders to do certain things depending on which role they are playing and he wanted a number nine to simply be an out-and-out goalscorer.
“When you look at the Chelsea squad as it is, Giroud doesn’t fit that, Morata doesn’t fit that. He’s been pushed into playing Eden Hazard there.
“He wants Higuain to stand between the posts and finish the chances that his team will make.
“Higuain is more than capable of doing that. He’s proved that time and time again that when he does feel he has the backing of his coach, when he does feel he’s an important player, that he will thrive.
“I fully expect him to do that at Chelsea with Sarri.”
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