
Photo: twitter.com/mbatshuayi
When Michy Batshuayi arrived from Marseille last season, I’m sure he thought he’d be able to overthrow then top man, Diego Costa, and become our main striker but that turned out to be only a dream as Costa proved too prolific to dethrone. The inability of Bats to secure game time didn’t help his chances either. The Belgian languished on the bench for months, until the latter stages of the season.
He was handed a lifeline back into the first team by Conte towards the end of the season, and he impressively made the most of it. He was able to get some crucial goals, including the title – winning effort against West Brom, and that seemed to restore his dampened confidence.
He has now continued his scoring streak, and it’s beginning to look more and more like he’d get far more game time in the coming season than he got the last time, after all winning is all a manager cares about. We have played 3 preseason games, and Bats has scored in all of them, there’s definitely a resurgence, and I know Conte would be thinking about giving him more chances, and possibly the starting role next season.
The arrival of Morata on a club record deal would make it difficult for Bats, but if he continues scoring, it’s impossible to see another outcome. Besides, Morata is new to English football and adapting may take a while. With Batshuayi scoring goals for fun at the moment, Morata might have to outscore Batshuayi to ensure he gets a starting role at Chelsea.
Either way, It’s is a healthy situation for Chelsea. Competition is healthy for improvement. If the current situation will make us more dangerous than we already are, I am all for it.