Guardiola rocked by Romano as Junior Kroupi can get ‘most important’ thing at Chelsea | OneFootball

Engage your average football fan over the age of 25 in conversation down the pub and at some point pretty early on in the inevitable ‘what’s wrong with the modern game?’ discussion, shortly after VAR, playing out from the back and some reference to them being overpaid good-for-nothings, they will probably ask ‘what’s happened to all the elite strikers?’

Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski will be named as the exceptions, Harry Kane mentioned but dismissed as he’s ‘more like a playmaker these days, isn’t he?’, before we have a good laugh over the travails of Viktor Gyokeres and Alexander Isak before moving on to how bloody brilliant it is to see long throws back in the beautiful game.

No doubt a namecheck of Junior Kroupi would be met with either confusion or short shrift. But after the 19-year-old scored his 11th Premier League goal of the season against Leeds, those of us dreaming wistfully of the days when false 9s and inverted 10s were no more than glints in the eyes of the football nerds and the Proper Goalscorers reigned supreme have been granted a welcome dose of nostalgia by Bournemouth’s throwback striker.

“My first thought when I watch him is Jermain Defoe,” Jamie Redknapp said on Sky Sports earlier this season. “Unbelievable striker of the ball, great finisher. He gets that dip on it – it’s ferocious.”

He delivers ‘f*** it’ finishes in the same vein as Defoe having clearly spent an inordinate amount of time on the training ground striking the ball instead of engaging in what most forwards these days believe to be more crucial strings to their bows: dribbling, passing, running, pressing.

Back in France, Kroupi often played on the left wing, naturally drifting inside, not unlike a certain Real Madrid superstar, according to former teammate and ex-Chelsea midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko, who played with him at Lorient.

Speaking after Lorient’s 3-3 draw with Lyon back in 2023, in which Kroupi scored a brace, Bakayoko said: “He’s a phenomenon. He reminds me a little of Kylian Mbappé in terms of the maturity of his game. He already has good stats for a youngster his age.”

The maturity of Mbappe and the finishing skills of Defoe, you say? Pep Guardiola is a ‘big fan’ and journalist Sacha Tavolieri has told Sky Sports that Manchester City director of football Hugo Viana has ‘met with the teenager’s representatives’ ahead of a possible summer bid.

No formal approach to Bournemouth has been made but they’ve apparently slapped an €80m [£69m] price tag on his head.

City would be signing the second-most productive striker in the Premier League to join the first as Kroupi’s 0.72 goals per game this season is only bettered by Erling Haaland (0.81).

Liverpool and Arsenal have also been linked as their big-money striker signings have failed to convince this term, and Chelsea – given their penchant for signing young talent – can’t me ruled out, particularly after Fabrizio Romano delivered an update on their search for a new manager this week.

“Iraola would be more than happy to continue in the Premier League,” Romano said. “Iraola would be keen on the possibility of becoming the new Chelsea manager.”

It was later reported that Chelsea have ‘made contact’ with Iraola’s representatives to gauge his interest in the move.

Despite the prevailing opinion being Iraola and similarly upwardly mobile managers would be mad to join Chelsea under BlueCo, the terrible Chelsea owners are precisely why the Spaniard should jump at the chance to take over at Stamford Bridge. It’s the freest of free hits.

And he may well give the Blues a significant advantage in the battle for Kroupi this summer, after the young Frenchman hailed his manager’s impact.

“He’s taught me about a new style of play and a new style of league,” Kroupi told FourFourTwo last month.

“I’m able to work on certain things I didn’t work on when I was at Lorient, particularly from a defensive perspective – better positioning in the defensive phase or making a certain movement of a few metres that prevents me from having to make a long defensive run.

“That way, I’m more clear-headed in the area when we’re attacking.”

And then he delivered the kick in the teeth for Man City and boon for an Iraola-led Chelsea.

“When it comes to attacking, he gives me a fair amount of freedom,” Kroupi added. “He also tells me to enjoy myself. That’s the most important thing – to enjoy yourself and keep helping the team.”

Rayan Cherki has forced Guardiola to make space in his team for a maverick footballer, but “freedom” hasn’t been a term typically associated with City’s attack across the last decade. It’s been ordered brilliance.

Few turn down the chance to work under Guardiola, even if only for one season as will likely be the case should Kroupi move to Manchester City this summer, but Chelsea’s approach for Iraola gives them a real chance of landing the Defoe-Mbappe hybrid as the teenager will know he will be getting the “most important” thing if they’re reunited at Stamford Bridge.