Struggling Chelsea are contemplating a January move for Bordeaux and Nigerian forward Josh Maja to offer competition to Tammy Abraham.
Maja, 20, joined Sunderland for Bordeaux in January 2019 after rejecting a new contract from the Black Cats and has enjoyed an impressive start to life in France.
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So far this season, Maja has made 17 appearances, scoring six goals and two assists in all competitions.
Despite struggling to hold down a permanent place in Bordeaux’s starting lineup, 90min has learned Chelsea scouts have been seriously impressed with Maja ‘s performances, which has led to a reported move in January.
Maja’s finest moment in a Bordeaux shirt came in a recent 6-0 win over Nîmes where he bagged a hat-trick and an assist in just his third start of the season.
Chelsea have been searching Europe to try find a young striker capable of providing competition for Abraham.
He has bagged 11 Premier League goals in his first season as Chelsea’s first-choice forward.
Neither Michy Batshuayi nor Olivier Giroud have proven to be reliable backups, and now that Chelsea’s transfer ban has been lifted they are free to look around to find some alternatives.
London-born Maja could now be offered the chance to return to his hometown in January as the Blues look to bolster their squad and bounce back from a challenging run of form which has seen them lose four of their last five league games.
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Despite their miserable form, Chelsea remain fourth in the league table, but their lead in the race for the top four is in real jeopardy.
Aside from Abraham, the Blues’ forwards have struggled for goals this year. Both Mason Mount and Christian Pulisic have struggled of late, leading to scouts looking for some much-needed firepower to help them remain in the hunt for Champions League football.
Maja made his international debut on 10 September in a 2–2 friendly against Ukraine, replacing Victor Osimhen in added time.
2 Comments
Fake news very unreliable and unrealistic.
It is really hard to give much credence to the sort of transfer speculations peddled in the article above.
Even according to the Liverpool Echo, Everton are monitoring the former Sunderland man alongside Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Burnley.
At least Liverpool Echo play it safe by claiming that those clubs are ‘monitoring’ Maja rather than claims of imminent interest.
_Monitoring Maja?_
Whether true or false, whether fact or fiction, why this spotlight on Maja?
Maja is becoming something of a revelation this season. Having started slowly, the London born centre forward has picked up the paces with strong performances in recent games.
Having to contend with starting from the bench previously, Maja showed that he was not a bench material with a hattrick against Nimes 3rd of December.
In an unprecedented appraisal outcome, statistical website whoscored.com rated the 20 year old 10/10 (100% perfect all round performance) in that game whilst he was rated 9/10 by French sports daily L’Equipe.
His average performance ratings so far this season is 6.6 for a striker who averages 1 goal every 3 games.
Maja is quick, strong and powerful with nimble feet and an eye for goals. As a veritable addition to the Super Eagles, he is expected to give Osimhen stiff competition for the number 9 role (a shirt Osimhen has all but made his personal property with powerful displays).
Speaking on Maja’s abilities, Coach Paulo Sousa said:”Josh is one of our best finishers.
He works hard on his first touch all the time, he doesn’t need a lot of space to finish.”
Coach Rohr is reportedly also happy with the young striker as his sterling performances continue to fuel transfer speculations similar to the one in the article above.