At some stage of the season, it seemed that Chelsea could challenge for the Premier League title.
Enzo Maresca managed to play his team well, with Cole Palmer giving him 12 goals and six assists until the start of 2025.
But since then, their form has fallen off the cliff. In fact, Maresca’s side has won just four Premier League matches in previous calendar years.
With Chelsea completing Geobunny’s Quenda and Dario Esgo signing, spending £62.4 million in the process, it appears the manager is already planning for next season and beyond.
When the transfer window opens on June 1st, Maresca will be keen to add to his team ahead of the 2025/26 campaign.
The centre-forward division is a division that will be strengthened during the transfer period as questions remain for Nicholas Jackson, but Christopher Nukank has attracted attention from other locations.
Reports say Chelsea is the club leading the pursuit of RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesco, and Arsenal also claims he has shown some interest.
The 21-year-old is one of the continent’s most coveted young talents, and it appears that he is increasingly likely to leave the German side this summer.
Maresca is not only showing praise ahead of the Slovenians as another young man recently caught his attention…
Search for Chelsea strikers
According to one recent report, Chelsea is strengthening interest in Columbia’s forward Neerer Villarreal.
The club sent out a Chief Scout to monitor Milonarios’ performance in a clash with Santa Fe earlier this week. In this game, players were shown yellow cards to stand on the ball.
The report says Intermiami, Porto and Watford are other stakeholders, but the Blues must be considered front runners, especially as they may play Champions League football next season.
The 19-year-old completed his contract at the end of 2025. This will encourage the Blues to make an offer earlier later to seduce the Premier League.
On the Stamford Bridge side, there are already many South American stars in the club, including Oscar Perea and Kendry Paes, and Estebao has recently linked with the team.
Why is Chelsea interested in signing Neeser Villarreal?
The teenager can play anywhere in the front three, and has only played 13 games on his club side in his embryonic career, but he shows impressive position flexibility.
In two league games this season, Villarreal has already got one assist, but averaged 3.5 shots for Colombia’s Appertura. The youngster also averaged 0.5 key passes per game, and succeeded with 0.5 dribbling for each game on the club’s side.
In his incredible form, he is likened to England star Marcus Rashford by talented scout Jacek Kulig.
Rashford, who had scored six career goals against the Blues so far, exploded into the Manchester United scene as a teenage striker.
Respected analyst Ben Matinson praised Colombian teens in February and won a hat-trick against Paraguay after an impressive show at the South American Under-20 Championship.
“How quickly he gets off the shot in the box, the right poacher. So clinical. Get it on either side. He’ll unleash a strong strike towards the goal,” Matinson said.
His display in the competition was undoubtedly the reason Bruce sent scouts to monitor his performance mid-week.
How Neyser Villarreal performed at the South American U20 Championship
Colombia played nine games during a competition held between January and February this year, where they only lost twice to Brazil and Argentina.
Throughout these games, Villarreal recorded an impressive tally of eight goals, but recorded four assists, a stunning display of his country’s consistency.
He scored once every 95 minutes, averaging 1.4 shots on target per game, and the 19-year-old could have scored more by missing four big opportunities during the tournament.
Neyser Villarreal statistics at South American U20 Championships | |
|---|---|
the goal | 8 |
assist | 4 |
A big opportunity has been created | 4 |
Key Passes for each game | 2.1 |
Scoring frequency (min) | 95 |
Shots for each game | 2.8 |
Via Sofascore | |
Elsewhere, Villarreal created four major opportunities, averaging 2.1 key passes per game, successfully with one dribble in each match, showing off numerous skills throughout the competition.
These displays have clearly attracted a lot of interest from afar, but is he ready for a move to Europe now? Perhaps spending another season in South America will allow him to continue his development.
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Will Villarreal turn out to be a better long-term signature as Bruce is looking at other strikers before the summer transfer window, including Sesko?
How does Villarreal compare to Sesco?
Sesko has been shining ever since moving from RB Salzburg to Leipzig in the summer of 2023. The 21-year-old scored 35 goals in 78 games.
The young centre forward certainly has waves in the Bundesliga, scoring once every 189th minute, but has missed a big chance to tally 10 league goals this season.
Sesko is also not shy about creating opportunities for others, and in this term he creates five big opportunities at Bundesliga, proving that he has not strictly adhered to the goals of scoring.
He appears ready to move to a larger club, but his signature is highly contested during the summer transfer period.
But the Villarreal may have a larger ceiling. While Chelsea do their best to harvest all the promising South American talent they plan to pursue, Milonarios youth could be the best.
The best thing is that he costs significantly more than Sesco, especially as his contract expired at the end of 2025.
Leipzig is keen to get as much as possible for Slovenian International.
Turning to Villarreal’s next Rashford could be a better long-term strategy for the Bruce.
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