While Liam Rosenior has plenty of attacking depth at his disposal, Cole Palmer believes that Marc Cucurella could actually make a good striker out of the Chelsea ranks.
Chelsea’s recent goal-scoring output has highlighted a growing reliance on versatility over a traditional fixed striker. Joao Pedro has flourished with 18 goals in all competitions, more specialist options like Liam Delap and Marc Guiu have found consistency harder to come by.
The departure of Nicolas Jackson on loan to Bayern Munich and Christopher Nkunku’s move to AC Milan left a void, which has seen Chelsea sign Emanuel Emegha for the summer.
Interestingly, Chelsea’s expected goals remain among the league’s highest, but the lack of a predatory presence in the six-yard box has occasionally stalled their momentum.
It’ll be up to Liam Delap and Joao Pedro to steer Chelsea to a top five finish from here.
Which defender or midfielder do you think would make the best Chelsea striker?🤔
Cole Palmer picks Marc Cucurella as a striker
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Cole Palmer claims Marc Cucurella would make the best striker
Chelsea interviewed Cole Palmer as part of their ‘lifting the lid’ segment and asked him the question of ‘which defender or midfielder would make the best striker?’.
His response was a slightly surprising one.
“Probably Cucurella because he scores the most goals out of the defenders.”
Despite Palmer’s claim, Cucurella has actually only scored one goal in the current campaign, with Malo Gusto and Trevoh Chalobah leading the way with three goals a piece.
How many points will we pick up here?
And will it be enough to save Liam Rosenior’s job?
Chelsea’s alternative striker options for the summer
Chelsea enters the 2026 summer transfer window facing a familiar dilemma at centre-forward. Despite spending £30 million on Liam Delap, he’s struggled for consistent output under Liam Rosenior. Delap, specifically, has been linked with a move to Newcastle United after failing to replicate his Ipswich form.
As mentioned, the club is already preparing for the arrival of Emmanuel Emegha from sister-club Strasbourg. The 23-year-old Dutchman, who captained Strasbourg to European qualification, is expected to be integrated directly into the first-team squad.
Simultaneously, Chelsea has secured Kazakh wonderkid Dastan Satpaev from FC Kairat. And despite him only being 17-years-old, Rosenior has plans to integrate him this summer.
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