Higuaín key to striker dominoes with Morata, Piatek and Kalinic
Chelsea are working hard to give Maurizio Sarri his wish to be reunited with the Argentina striker, which could lead to a chain of events across Europe.
The mutual desire to be reunited bewteen Maurizio Sarri and Gonzalo Higuaín could be the catalyst for a vast movement of strikers across the continent before January is out. The Milan striker will almost certainly feature in the Supercoppa Italiana against Juventus on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia – Higuaín has unfinished business with his former club and has not forgiven the Old Lady for discarding him so ignominiously last summer after the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo in Turin.
But after the game, Higuaín will start to push for a move to Chelsea to link up again with Sarri, under who he enjoyed his most prolific season to date at Napoli in 2015-16, scoring 36 league goals to equal Gino Rosetti’s record from 1928-29. But Higuaín has become swiftly disillusioned with life at Milan and is seeking an exit door, however complicated that might be given he is on loan from Juventus.
Milan paid 16 million euros for his services last summer and have an option to make the move permanent for 35 million in the summer, something the Rossoneri seems less than disposed to do after Higuaín’s return so far for his new club. According to calciomercato.net, Chelsea’s opening gambit is to offer Juve eight million euros to take Higuaín until the end of the season, with the same purchase option included as part of the deal.
Morata, Piatek, Kalinic all waiting on Higuaín
If that offer is accepted, two things need to happen: Chelsea will have to offload Álvaro Morata and Milan will be in the market for a replacement. Atlético Madrid are the current front-runners to land the Spain striker, who is keen on a return to the club where he started his career, and that could in turn lead to the departure of Nikola Kalinic for Monaco, where the Croatia striker is wanted by Thierry Henry.
That would leave only the question of who would replace Higuaín at Milan, with the Serie A club very interested in making a move for in-demand Genoa striker Krzysztof Piatek. Milan will face competition for the prolific Pole from Real Madrid, who are reportedly preparing a bid and have sent scouts to watch the forward while Genoa are in Spain on a winter training camp.
Genoa, for their part, would prefer to hang on to Piatek, who has bagged 19 goals in 21 games this season, until the summer, when a bidding war will likely ensure for the 23-year-old.