What Thomas Tuchel sees in Anthony Gordon goes beyond the 21-year-old's ability to score goals and create chances. In the young Liverpudlian, Chelsea have spotted someone with the characteristics to make him a great addition to the team at Stamford Bridge. Something Tuchel values much more than just possessing talented individuals.
Todd Boehly has been given the task of negotiating a deal for Gordon, who only has four Premier League goals to his name, alongside a more experienced drive for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. This is to not only bring flexibility and speed to the Chelsea attack but also intangible qualities and a relationship with his players that Tuchel thrives off.
Although the asking price for Gordon could bring a deal to be worth more than £10m per league goal he has scored - with £50m believed as the number which would tempt the Toffees into selling their local star - Chelsea, Tuchel and Boehly haven't been against spending large sums of money on young players.
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Alongside £20m for Carney Chukwuemeka - only £10m upfront - there has also been £12m on Gabriel Slonina and a further £12m on Cesare Casadei. With a record-breaking fee for a defender being demanded for Wesley Fofana, who at 21 must seem ancient to the three teenagers before him, there is a strong drive in youthful recruitment this window, in the players mental qualities as well as their technical ones.
Gordon, who has previously been compared to Mason Mount - a very good place to start when considering Mount has been used as a Chelsea captain by Tuchel - averages more pressures, tackles and interceptions, all parts of Tuchel's high energy system that he sees as non-negotiable.
With an Everton squad that were extremely poor last season, and now being without Richarlison or a fit first choice striker, Gordon has been used as a makeshift centre-forward. It's something that Lampard has admitted he needs, saying, "he’s our player, we need him here. Anthony has a huge value to team - he’s key player for me. I consider him a massive player. 100% staying here? I can't assure anybody, that's naïve."
Not only do his words indicate that something is going on with Gordon, and reports suggest that he is also pushing for the move himself, they paint a picture of a player that could add invaluable elements to Chelsea. Last season he played 35 matches which itself is a big advantage for a Chelsea team that has struggled with injuries, he also had more goals and assists than Timo Werner, despite playing in a worse team and being four years his junior.
Gordon isn't the finished product and would take a lot of moulding under Tuchel, but his importance to Everton shows his intelligence already, and that is something Tuchel will take into account just as much as his immediate skillset.
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