Jadon Sancho unveiled - but is he what Chelsea need?
- Published
Jadon Sancho was watching on next to co-owner Behdad Eghbali and the two sporting directors who signed him - Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart - from the directors' box.
There was excitement as he was announced last night but the familiar question will remain - how good would this team be with a world class striker?
Nicolas Jackson worked hard and scored the opening goal but he also missed two late chances to win the match.
Chelsea threw everything they had at Crystal Palace in the second half as Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk and Christopher Nkunku came off the bench.
But none of them looked like scoring as Palace looked tactically superior after Eberechi Eze's excellent equaliser.
It poses the question, would another winger like Sancho have made the difference had he been available? The answer invariably feels like no, definitely not.
It's remarkable that after over £1.5billion spent under this ownership - that there isn't a clinical striker among new manager Enzo Maresca's ranks.
It raises the question of whether Chelsea should have forced a deal with Napoli and Victor Osimhen's outspoken agent, Roberto Calenda, than sign Sancho on loan from Manchester United.