Enzo Maresca is the latest manager to take the Chelsea hot seat, with the expectation of a top-four Premier League finish, qualifying the club for the Champions League. Last season, the Blues finished sixth, five points off of fourth.
Chelsea have been busy in the transfer market to equip Maresca with a squad capable of a top-four finish, already signing Leicester City POTY Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Tosin Adarabioyo on a free, after his Fulham contract expired, and goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen from Villarreal.
Some other signings include Omari Kellyman, Renato Veiga, Caleb Willey, Marc Guiu, and talented Brazilian Estevao. The Blues are still set for a busy few weeks, with some more incomings and outgoings rumoured to be on the horizon.
According to reports from the Telegraph, Chelsea remain interested in Bournemouth striker, Dominic Solanke, who came through the Chelsea academy at Cobham, before leaving in 2017 to join Liverpool.
The reports also state Tottenham’s interest in the 26-year-old striker, who has a £65m buy-out clause in his current Bournemouth contract. Spurs are attempting to make progress on the deal, but so far no team has met the buy-out clause.
Solanke made 42 appearances in all competitions for Bournemouth last season, scoring 21 goals, providing four assists, and totalling 3,553 minutes played.
Solanke, who was once described as a “predatory” striker due to his goal-scoring instincts, had a better season in terms of output than both of Chelsea’s other main striker targets, Samu Omorodion, and Victor Osimhen.
The 26-year-old Bournemouth striker is also compared to both Chelsea targets, as FBref’s “similar players” feature has Omorodion and Osimhen in the top ten players most comparable to Solanke.
Omorodion made 36 appearances in all competitions throughout 2023/24, scoring nine goals and providing one assist, whilst Osimhen made 32 appearances, scoring 17 goals and providing four assists.
All three strikers offer different assets, with Omorodion standing at 6 foot 4, three inches taller than both Osimhen and Solanke. This gives him the advantage as a box presence, winning 2.75 aerials per 90.
Osimhen comes out on top with the shot volume metrics, which goes hand in hand with his 0.70 xG produced per 90, and scoring 0.67 goals per 90, really backing up his claims as one of the best strikers in the world.
However, the Cherries forward offers a bit of a mixture of the two, winning 2.63 aerials per 90 (despite his slightly lesser frame), and actually scoring at a higher rate than Osimhen and Omorodion, when it comes to the goals/shot metric, scoring 0.16 per 90.
The Bournemouth striker also has the Premier League factor in his favour, not having to settle in a new country and division.
Having scored 19 Premier League goals in the 2024/25 campaign, finishing joint fourth top scorer, Solanke comes with a proven goal-scoring pedigree in this league and would be an intriguing alternative for the Blues.
