Diego Costa vs Edinson Cavani: Who Should Chelsea Go For?

Chelsea left fans disappointed in the just concluded season due to the fact that the team got close to the Premier League and Champions League titles but did not end up with anything. For a team under transition it did remarkably well. This was the first time since 2010 that Chelsea will end up with more than 80 points. The performances in the Champions league were quite better than that of the previous season when the team was knocked out in the group stage.

The reason Chelsea struggled to win any trophy is largely because the team do not have the ‘killer strikers’ that other big teams have. In the Premier League for example; Liverpool had Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, Manchester City had Alvaro Negredo, Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko. Both Liverpool and Manchester City finished above Chelsea. All the aforementioned strikers were very important to their teams in the title challenge.

Chelsea fans had to deal with the team’s inadequacies in front of goal. With 19 combined Premier League goals, the trio of Fernando Torres [5 PL Goals], Demba Ba [5 PL Goals] and Samuel Eto’o [9 PL Goals] were largely disappointing. Chelsea had to rely on people like Eden Hazard and Oscar for goals which weren’t enough. Getting a good striker is definitely at the top of Chelsea’s list and two names come to mind – Diego Costa and Edinson Cavani.

Both Costa and Cavani are quite familiar to Chelsea fans. Not just the fact that both players played against Chelsea recently, the media have been linking them to Chelsea incessantly over the past few months. They are both good strikers…no doubt about that. Who will suit Chelsea better out of the two strikers?

The just concluded season was Diego Costa’s breakthrough season. The Spanish international carried on from where the Superb Radamel Falcao stopped. Many wonder how Atletico will cope after they sold Falcao to AS Monaco but Costa proved that there was life after the Colombian. His 27 goals in La Liga were crucial to Atletico Madrid’s title challenge.

Costa has shown his qualities over and over again. He is strong and has good feet. He possesses all a striker should have – pace, aggression, dribbling, bravery and aerial ability. He plays at the same level throughout the game. He bullies defenders and turns half chances into goals. He will be perfect for Mourinho.

Cavani had less successful season compared to Costa. This is due to the fact that he has been playing in the shadow of Zlatan Ibrahimovic since he joined Paris Saint-Germain. He has been rotated around attacking positions while Ibrahimovic plays through the center. Cavani still managed to score goals from his unnatural position. With 16 goals to his name, one can only wonder how many he would’ve scored if he played predominantly through the middle.

Cavani is slightly different to Costa. He does not have the same aggression as Costa or physicality. He is very good in the air and intelligent in the box. He holds up play to link up other players just the way Didier Drogba did it during his time at Chelsea. His situation at PSG and style of play of the Uruguayan National Team means he can play on as a winger – an advantage he has over Costa.

Comparison of statistics between Diego Costa and Edinson Cavani

Diego Costa – Statistics [La Liga]: 35 appearances, 27 goals, 3 assists, 94 shots in total, 54 shots on target, 781 passes, 76% passing accuracy, 7 yellow cards, 63 fouls committed.

Edinson Cavani – Statistics [Ligue1]: 30 appearances, 16 goals, 2 assists, 77 shots in total, 34 shots on target, 718 passes, 85% passing accuracy, 2 yellow cards, 24 fouls committed.

Verdict.

Both players will likely perform well at Chelsea but Cavani offers more compared to Costa. Cavani had an impressive 78 goals in 104 Serie A games for Napoli [when he played through the middle]. 16 goals in 30 appearances for PSG [playing mostly out of position] is still impressive.

Cavani has been one of the top strikers in the world for the past 3-4 seasons while Costa just rose to prominence. Cavani will probably be more expensive but he has the experience [having played in three different Leagues] and abilities to make him an instant hit in the Premier League.