AC Milan striker Gonzalo Higuain will seal a loan move to Chelsea on Tuesday, but is he an improvement on Alvaro Morata?
The Spanish forward has endured a miserable 2018-19 campaign to date, scoring nine goals in 24 matches across all competitions and failing to hold down a regular place in Maurizio Sarri’s XI.
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According to The Sun, Higuain is set to complete a loan transfer to Chelsea later today, and he is expected to serve as the club’s new number one striker, ahead of Morata and Olivier Giroud.
The Argentine hitman has been regarded as one of the best centre-forwards in European football over the last decade, enjoying successful spells at Real Madrid, Napoli and Juventus.
He left Turin for AC Milan in the summer of 2018, on a season-long loan, but since then he has failed to match the high standards he has always set for himself throughout his stellar career.
Ahead of his imminent arrival at Stamford Bridge, surprising statistics have emerged which actually show that Morata has been more effective upfront this term in England than Higuain has been in Italy.
As you can see in the table above, Morata’s minutes to goal ratio is higher than Higuain’s and he also boasts a higher conversion rate, which might make for worrying reading for any Chelsea fans.
Morata is well known for missing guilt-edge chances on a consistent basis, but he has been more accurate with his shots than his Argentine counterpart and has managed marginally more attempts per game.
Higuain has two assists while the Spain international has none, but apart from that, he has been inferior, as Milan have struggled to keep pace with Juventus, Napoli and Inter Milan in Serie A.
Based on these statistics, at 31-years-old Higuain is in the middle of a steady decline, less prolific than ever before in a league which he has conquered on several occasions in the past.
The Premier League is widely regarded as the toughest competition in Europe and if he can’t deliver the goods in Italy at the moment, what evidence is there to suggest he will fare any better at Chelsea than Morata?
