Mauricio Pochettino and Christopher Nkunku agree on $38m transfer as three Chelsea players rave
Chelsea scored just six goals in their 2022 pre-season under Thomas Tuchel. Five different players were in on the act across four games that only brought two wins. Five of the players that scored have left the club and only Raheem Sterling remains.
Contrast that to the nine strikes in two games in the opening week of their 2023 tour of America under Mauricio Pochettino and the vibe could not be any more different. This is a young squad with just one player over the age of 30, compare that to the five last year and there has been a notable sea change.
Although few are kidding themselves into believing that the squad is perfect, Pochettino has had some words of warning already in America, it is a refreshing look to a team that had become bloated and stale for much of the past 12 months. Now there is excitement in the youth.
It isn't teenagers that are proving to be the best performer so far, though. £30million ($38m) summer signing Nicolas Jackson has grabbed the attention of fans with two assists and a goal in his two appearances so far, linking smoothly with those around him.
The 22-year-old is somewhat of an unknown quantity to many but he has taken seamlessly to the challenge of leading the line for Chelsea. His goal from the bench against Brighton followed on from laying one to Ian Maatsen in the opening three minutes of the tour against Wrexham.
His pass teed up Mykhailo Mudryk's stunning strike in Philadelphia too and now fans are getting excited that perhaps it won't take upwards of £100million ($124m) to bring in the answer to their goalscoring problems.Someone already brought in to fill that role is Christopher Nkunku.
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