Chelsea continue to be linked with Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele on transfer deadline day.
Sky Sports are reporting that Tuchel's side have made another enquiry regarding the Frenchman's availability, upon hearing a proposed move to Paris Saint-Germain falling through, but any deal would be difficult to complete so late on deadline day.
Football.London understands that his preferred Premier League destination is Chelsea, with Arsenal and Tottenham of no interest to the former Rennes winger, who played under current Blues boss Thomas Tuchel at Borussia Dortmund, before being sold to Barcelona for £126 million.
So, if Dembele was to make a move to Chelsea on deadline day, what sort of impact could he have on Tuchel's side? And, could he find his best form once again and help win Chelsea some trophies?
To find out, we simulated the rest of the season with Dembele in the Chelsea squad and this is what happened.
We 'signed' Ousmane Dembele for Chelsea in January 2022
To set up this simulation, we used the Football Manager 2022 editor to arrange for Dembele to join Chelsea in January, using FM22 to run the simulation.
This is how Dembele's in-game profile looks on FM22.
Let's take a look at how Dembele performed throughout the second half of the 2021/22 season after signing for the Blues in January 2022.
Dembele made 21 appearances for Chelsea in his first season at the club, with only one of those coming from the bench as he grabbed six goals and three assists in all competitions. Unfortunately for the winger, his injury record continued at the Blues, with three separate injuries ruling the Frenchman out of action for just over four weeks in total.
Dembele averaged a rating of 7.06 in all competitions in his first season, with his average in the Premier League being 7.08, the competition where he grabbed four of his goals, and one of his assists.
At the end of the 2021/22 season, Football Manager 2022 put together an overall best Chelsea XI, based on performances, statistics and other metrics.
This is what Tuchel's best XI looked like at the end of the 2021/22 season as predicted by Football Manager 2022:
Full Chelsea best XI (5-2-2-1): Mendy; James, Christensen, Silva, Rudiger, Chilwell; Kante, Mount; Havertz, Dembele; Lukaku.
Dembele features in the best Chelsea XI for the 2021/22 season, despite only being at the club for less than five months.
Deployed on the left rather than his usual right, Dembele averaged the third-best rating per game, behind Mason Mount and super-sub Timo Werner.
Mount had an incredible season, scoring 17 and assisting seven as Chelsea's best performing midfielder, whilst Werner doubled the number of goals scored by Dembele, despite only starting six games.
Hakim Ziyech registered more goals and assists in a couple more games, but the Frenchman was better than Christian Pulisic and Callum Hudson-Odoi.
So, how did Chelsea perform in the league and cup competitions after signing Dembele in the January transfer window?
Chelsea's results from the 2021/22 simulation
Chelsea finished third in the Premier League table with 79 points, just two ahead of fifth-placed Arsenal but only three behind Liverpool in second.
The Blues lost nine games throughout the season and their impressive defensive record faded away in the second half of the season, conceding 41 goals in total. Tuchel's side won big silverware in this simulated season too, with the Blues winning two major trophies.
Goals from Dembele and Pulisic, after Diogo Jota cancelled out Romelu Lukaku's opener, handed Chelsea a 3-1 win over Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final.
And despite going 1-0 down and seeing Ben Chilwell sent off, 10-men Chelsea beat PSG 3-1 in the Champions League final, with Ziyech, Werner and Mateo Kovacic grabbing the goals.
Overall, if Ousmane Dembele were to sign for Chelsea in January, Football Manager 2022 predicts that the winger could have a decent impact on the Chelsea side and score some important goals along the way. But, his injury issues would also be on show, with the winger missing over a month of action including the Champions League final, but he wasn't hugely missed as the Blues retained their European trophy.
Would you like to see Ousmane Dembele sign for Chelsea? Let us know in the comments!
