Football news - Gonzalo Higuain joins Chelsea for rest of season
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ByEurosport
Updated 23/01/2019 at 20:57 GMT
Chelsea have signed Gonzalo Higuain on loan from Juventus until the end of the season, the London club has confirmed.
Gonzalo Higuain signs for Chelsea (Credit @ChelseaFC)
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Higuain was initially on loan at AC Milan but has cut that deal short in order to move to the Premier League.
Milan have in turn agreed a deal to sign Genoa forward Krzysztof Piatek which should pave the way for Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata to move to boyhood club Atletico Madrid.
Juventus have confirmed that whilst the initial loan runs until the end of the season Chelsea have an option to extend it until the end of the 2019-20 season for a fee of €18 million.
They can also make the transfer permanent for a fee of €36 million.
"When the opportunity to join Chelsea presented itself I had to take it. It’s a team I’ve always liked that has a lot of history, a wonderful stadium and they play in the Premier League, a league I’ve always wanted to play in," said Higuain.
"I now hope I can give back that trust Chelsea have shown me out on the pitch. I can’t wait to start and I hope to adapt as soon as possible."
The move reunites the former Real Madrid player with manager Maurizio Sarri, who coached the player at Napoli.
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Gonzalo Higuain (AC Milan)
Image credit: Getty Images
Higuain has managed six league goals in 15 appearances for Milan, and will hope to hit the heights he did under Sarri at Napoli when he scored 36 goals to equal the Serie A record for most goals in a season in 2015-16.
“He is a very strong striker, especially in my first season in Naples,” explained Sarri. “He did very well. For sure he is one of the best strikers in my career. He has the right experience to play here.”
“We believe he will sign the contract today. I hope that he will start scoring for us. I know he has had some difficulties at the moment, but we hope he can get back to his best form."
His replacement at Milan will be goalscoring sensation Piatek, who is poised to complete a £31m deal.
Piatek, who moved to Genoa at the start of the season, has scored 13 goals in 19 Serie A appearances - one fewer than Cristiano Ronaldo, Duvan Zapata and Fabio Quagliarella who lead the scoring charts.
KEY FACTS ON GONZALO HIGUAIN
- Since the start of the 2006-07 season, Gonzalo Higuain has scored 224 goals in the big five European leagues (107 in La Liga and 117 in Serie A). In this period, only five players have scored more league goals than the Argentinian.
- Of the six players to have scored 200+ goals in the big five European leagues since the start of 2006-07, only Lionel Messi (20.94%) has a better shot conversion rate than Gonzalo Higuain (19.96%).
- Gonzalo Higuain has scored 20+ goals in five different seasons in the big five European leagues – since the start of the 2006-07 season, only four players have done so on more occasions to date (10 – Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, 6 – Robert Lewandowski and Sergio Aguero).
- In the 21st Century, Gonzalo Higuain is one of only three players to have scored 100+ goals in more than one of the big five European leagues.
- Gonzalo Higuain has scored 34 goals in major European competitions, with 22 of those coming in the Champions League and the other 12 in the Europa League.
- Gonzalo Higuain’s move to Chelsea will see him reunite with his former manager Maurizio Sarri. It was under the Italian coach in 2015-16 when Higuain scored 36 league goals for Napoli; the most by a player in a single season in Serie A history.
- The season in which Higuain broke the Serie A scoring record (2015-16), he started 29 games for Napoli alongside teammate Jorginho. The current Chelsea midfielder also assisted two of Higuain’s goals in the competition that season.
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