The man in charge might not see out the remainder of the 2022-2023 season judging by the bad run of form Chelsea is in at the time of writing. Graham Potter’s Chelsea reign is going through major struggles and per reports, he needs to win immediate upcoming games against Leeds United in the league and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League to avoid a sack.
However, Potter’s inexplicable limited use of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could be Potter’s way of getting the needed attention to a big problem confronting the team. As cynical as it sounds, Potter could be intentionally sidelining the Gabonese striker to pile pressure on the Chelsea board to get elite forwards in the offseason transfer window.
Though Chelsea signed a boatload of players, not getting a central striker aside prospect David Datro Fofana raised many eyebrows considering Aubameyang’s struggle breaking into Potter’s team.
Though he was gifted with several quality players, leaving Aubameyang out in the cold could be Potter’s way of rebelling against the team’s decision to not sign a proven center forward.
A trait of a great coach is the management of present circumstances while laying down the marker to shape the club two or three seasons into the future. Jurgen Klopp has pulled this off with Liverpool’s frontline but has missed the mark with The Reds midfield unit.
Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo have consistently been involved with Liverpool goals in the past four games alongside Mohammed Salah. The mainstay from Liverpool’s hitherto vaunted frontline, Salah, continues to serve as the bridge between the new and the old unit that had Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino in it.
Should Luis Diaz get back to the elite level when he returns from a long injury lay off or should Fabio Carvalho grow into a world beater, the ageing and expensive Salah is a big candidate to be moved. A Diaz, Gakpo, Nunez front line is Liverpool’s forward line of the future with all three players 26 and under. After seeing its title challenge fall by the way side in a disappointing campaign, Klopp and Liverpool’s top hierarchy is sure to get younger players for Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and Thiago Alcantara.
Liverpool lost 2-5 to Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League and is a near certain candidate to get eliminated by the Spanish side. Unlike Liverpool, Real Madrid has Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga and Federico Valverde lined up to replace Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. Casemiro has starred for Man United since joining the club but lined up next to Modric and Kroos for at least half a decade.
Look away if you are a Chelsea fan because the Blues attack is as anemic as they come with The Blues scoring just a goal in the whole of February. Joao Felix’s fine goal off a neatly worked move in a 1-1 draw with West Ham in the league is the team’s solo converted strike in February. This barren run in front of goal has Kai Havertz as the lead man in Potter’s heavily used 4-2-3-1 formation but the German’s form is as poor as the team’s statistics in the goals scored category.
Despite playing 32 games, Havertz has scored six goals and has just an assist to his name in all competitions this season in the face of consistently playing the entire duration of games. While Havertz has time (he turns 24 in June) to work his way to fulfill the enormous potential he showed at Bayer Leverkusen, he has gone viral for his poor decisions when trying to link up play and also fluffing his lines when put through on goal.
Havertz could be forgiven for his mishaps since he isn’t a center forward but is a support striker who thrives at making decoy runs and supplying potential assists. In the face of this down turn in efficiency in front of goal, Potter has strangely kept the only center forward in the team’s minutes down.
On multiple occasions, the former Brighton and Hove Albion manager has flat out ostracized Aubameyang as the former Arsenal player has been left out of the squad three times and left on the bench twice. There have been cameo appearances like the nine minute and seven minute outings against Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspurs respectively interspersed in between.
Perhaps Potter isn’t impressed with Aubameyang’s limited work rate high up the pitch or the Gabonese player’s body language and attitude (something that has come up several times in Aubameyang’s career)? Aubameyang’s strange absences could be down to him not being a Potter signing since the former Arsenal captain was signed from Barcelona under Thomas Tuchel.
While the Todd Boehly led consortium has injected over $600 million into headline purchases, the spot next to record signing Enzo Fernandez in the absence of Kante and in attack have not been filled appropriately. There are quality throwback strikers Chelsea can pick up in the offseason in Dusan Vlahovic and Victor Osimhen who are efficient and have all the physical attributes to feed off the abundant creativity in the Chelsea setup.
A modern day striker with the ruthlessness of a throwback center forward in Harry Kane is also available; though he has the lowest market price of the trio, Kane is the most difficult to get considering the rivalry between Chelsea and Spurs.
Chelsea needs a direct threat on top a madly talented and expensive setup and while Aubameyang has all the qualities to operate in this role, he has been all but shunned. However, this queer decision could be Graham Potter’s way of getting his point across and it has nothing to do with Aubameyang.
