What Chelsea fans can expect from Samu Omorodion

Cameron Smith

Updated: 6 Aug 2024 15:49 BST
4 min read

Samu Omorodion, Chelsea, Alaves, 2023/24 — © IMAGO

Chelsea are set to complete the signing of Atletico Madrid forward Samu Omorodion for a reported fee of roughly €40 million.

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The Spain international is one piece in a transfer domino that will see both Julian Alvarez and Conor Gallagher join Atletico, from Manchester City and Chelsea respectively.

Omorodion joined Atletico Madrid for €6m from Granada last summer, but he will leave the club without making a single first-team appearance, having spent the 2023-24 season on loan at LaLiga side Alaves.

The 20-year-old has been one of Chelsea’s primary targets for the duration of the 2024 summer transfer window and they are finally on the verge of signing him.

But, what can Chelsea fans expect from the forward?

What Chelsea fans can expect from Samu Omorodion

The first thing to note is that Omorodion has some extremely impressive physical attributes, and that his potential is huge. The Spaniard is 6ft 3in tall, he has an excellent burst of acceleration and is always a threat when running in behind.

Omorodion likes to stretch play by sitting on the last defender, and he is a beast in counter-attacking situations.

The 20-year-old is fairly both-footed, he is more far adept aerially than Chelsea’s current number nine Nicolas Jackson and he will be up for the physical task of Premier League football.

© IMAGO - Samu Omorodion spent last season on loan at Alaves

However, his ability to drop deep and link play is inferior to Jackson, while he is even more raw than the Senegal international was when he left Villarreal for west London.

His finishing is also fairly inconsistent - which is something that Jackson was heavily criticised for during his debut season at Chelsea - and Omorodion underperformed his xG by nearly 3.0 in LaLiga last year.

In total, he scored nine goals and provided one assist in the Spanish top flight last season, although he failed to net in his final 12 league appearances of the campaign.

Omorodion evidently has a lot of talent, and his fundamental skillset is promising, but patience will be needed and he is unlikely to hit the ground running immediately.

One thing that will be interesting, too, is how Chelsea plan to develop Omorodion alongside both Jackson and Marc Guiu.

All three will need significant game time to grow as players, something that will be extremely difficult to manufacture.

Current ETV

Samu Omorodion

F (CRL)

Atlético

Samu Omorodion

F (CRL)

Atlético

ETV Range

€9.1M - €15.1M

In addition, Victor Osimhen’s potential arrival from Napoli would further complicate things.

Omorodion is likely to arrive as Jackson’s back-up in the short-term, although he will be rewarded with significant minutes in 2024-25 and he could become Chelsea’s first-choice number nine in the future.