And dear @CPFC fans: I. CANT. WAIT,” Michy Batshuayi wrote on Twitter in the early hours of Friday morning. After what had certainly been a long 24 hours for Chelsea’s forgotten man, you could almost hear the relief in his words. Stationed in an office at Valencia’s training ground, Batshuayi was kept informed of the unfolding drama by a series of WhatsApp messages and frantic phone calls as his representatives scrambled to secure his future deep into the night.
In the end it was Crystal Palace – the first club to register interest in the Belgium striker back in December – who signed him on loan until the end of the season in a race that proved to be the highlight of a transfer deadline day which again failed to live up to the hype. You can always rely on Tottenham to provide some last-minute drama, however.
With Valencia having indicated their wish to terminate his loan after one goal in 15 appearances – albeit mainly as a substitute – Batshuayi had initially seemed set to link up again with the former Belgium assistant manager Thierry Henry at Monaco until Henry was unceremoniously sacked last week. When efforts to sell him to Everton did not come off, Chelsea set up loan deals with West Ham and Real Betis, only for neither to agree personal terms. Enter Daniel Levy.
Sensing an opportunity to sign the player they had missed out on when he moved to Stamford Bridge in June 2016, Spurs made an approach about loaning Batshuayi but Chelsea were not keen to lend him to a rival, with Tottenham’s offer of £5m to borrow the player turned down. It was then that Palace’s chairman, Steve Parish, stepped in, eventually securing the forward for whom they had opened the bidding with Marseille nearly three years ago for a loan fee of £1m hours after the transfer deadline had passed. Batshuayi flew from Spain to London on Friday and will be at best a substitute at home against Fulham on Saturday.
“I think it’s good that he is going to an English team – he knows the country, he knows the city and he knows the language now,” says Kristof Terreur, a Belgian journalist who covers English football for Het Laatste Nieuws.
“Language-wise and understanding things was the main issue in Spain. He has always been a slow adapter so he always needs time and I think Roy Hodgson might be the kind of manager that can really help him. He’s not the type who is really brainwashing his forwards with instructions and telling them what to do. He likes his forwards playing with intuition and Michy is purely an intuition striker, so it could work out well.”
Batshuayi scored seven times for Chelsea in the Premier League despite being on the pitch for only 589 minutes and making only four starts under Guus Hiddink and Antonio Conte. Yet even after Batshuayi’s successful loan at Borussia Dortmund last season earned him a place at the World Cup and with Chelsea struggling for goals this campaign, Maurizio Sarri has not considered turning to a player whose face has never seemed to fit in west London.
“He has been waiting for a long time,” Terreur says. “Michy is still a little bit like Chelsea’s toy – being told where he has to go all the time. Henry calls him the most lethal Belgian striker in the 18-yard box and that’s why he wanted him so much. That’s why he wanted Monaco too because he would have found someone who really believes in him.”
Batshuayi will have competition for a starting spot at Selhurst Park, with his international teammate Christian Benteke and Connor Wickham back from injury, but he could be the kind of poacher Palace require to ensure their Premier League status.
Wilfried Zaha is potentially facing a longer ban after his reaction to his red card against Southampton so Hodgson could be tempted to use the two Belgium strikers in tandem for next Saturday’s game against West Ham as the relegation battle intensifies. Luckily for Palace, the 25-year-old, who grew up in the notorious Molenbeek district of Brussels, is used to putting up a fight despite his jocular presence on social media.
“Michy is an easygoing guy – look at how well he did at Dortmund and even at Chelsea he never lost his confidence because he was still scoring goals,” Terreur says. “I’m sure he will feel at home in south London.”
(The Guardian)
