Chelsea will hope to have addressed one of their key issues from 2023/24 with their third signing of the summer: Marc Guiu.
Guiu has moved to south-west London from Barcelona, where at just 18 he racked up seven senior appearances. Born close to the Catalan capital, Guiu made headlines when he scored inside just 33 seconds on his debut against Athletic Bilbao.
The youngster progressed from the famous La Masia academy and has now penned a five-year deal with the Blues, joining Omari Kellyman from Aston Villa and Tosin Adarabioyo from Fulham as summer additions.
Enzo Maresca will hope the teenager can help to address Chelsea’s trouble up-front last season. The Blues netted a commendable 77 league goals in 2023/24 but relied heavily on Cole Palmer, the Golden Boot runner-up.
With Palmer competing with England until at least this weekend, Maresca may find that his star frontman is a little sluggish while the campaign gets going.
Nicolas Jackson meanwhile put in hit-and-miss performances, netting 17 from 44 games, meaning there is room for Guiu to get stuck in and make a difference.
A traditional No.9, Guiu has been described as ‘a finisher’ by Albert Capellas, Barcelona's former assistant director of youth football.
He plays with a striker’s instinct rather than any spellbinding trickery and two goals in 110 minutes of senior football across La Liga and the Champions League suggests he can adapt that nose for goal to the highest level.
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He said of signing: “It brings me immense joy to sign for Chelsea. I struggled to sleep last night ahead of the journey here because I was so excited!
“Ever since I was small, it was my dream to play in the Premier League and be successful in England. Now I have the opportunity to join Chelsea and I will work my hardest to be successful for the club.
“I think what's most important [to start with] is that I adapt to my surroundings, which I'm sure will be easy, and then of course I want to win the Champions League and the Premier League for Chelsea.
“On a personal level, I want to help the team as much as I can by scoring lots of goals and I want to become the best centre forward in the world.”
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