Chelsea reportedly had a number of other options up front this summer before eventually sealing the transfer of former Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The Gabon international joined from Barcelona on Deadline Day and will now be tasked with replacing Romelu Lukaku, who last season became the latest high-profile flop to wear the number 9 shirt at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea fans will no doubt hope that Aubameyang can still perform week in, week out even at 33 years of age, but one has to wonder if there were better options out there.
According to The Athletic, Chelsea were one of the clubs offered Cristiano Ronaldo, though Thomas Tuchel was not keen on that idea, while other big names were seemingly also explored.
Robert Lewandowski, Christopher Nkunku, Rafael Leao, Victor Osimhen, and Jonathan David are the other five forwards who had seemingly been looked at by the Blues, but for one reason or another they couldn’t happen this summer.
Lewandowski ended up moving from Bayern Munich to Barcelona, while the others stayed with their current clubs for this season.
A report from Todo Fichajes now suggests Chelsea could be ready to try again to sign Leao from AC Milan in January, though this deal surely won’t come cheap.
Aubameyang still looks a decent option for Chelsea, however, with the veteran striker still looking a major threat up front during his brief spell at Barca, even if things didn’t end that well for him at Arsenal.
It’s also worth noting that Aubameyang worked well with Tuchel when they were together at Borussia Dortmund, so perhaps the German tactician would now be ideal to revive his career.