3 Reasons Chukwueze Should Stay At Villarreal Despite Chelsea, Liverpool Interest

Super Eagles attacking ace, Samuel Chukwueze has done quite well since introducing himself onto the big stage of world football back in 2018 with Spanish Laliga club-side, Villarreal CF.

Chukwueze has been in fine form since his promotion to the first team of Villarreal in 2018 which has seen him attract interest from a number of Premier League clubs including Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool.

During the January transfer window, the Yellow Submarine reportedly turned down a tempting offer within the range of €35million from the Merseyside outfit for the highly rated 20-year-old attacker.

And only recently, former Arsenal midfielder, Santi Cazorla had revealed that he received calls from the Gunners over a potential summer transfer of his much younger Villarreal teammate.

Also, most decorated African footballer, Samuel Eto’o Fils in a recent interview expressed his belief in the Nigeria international to go ahead and play for the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid in future.

Complete Sports’ reporter, OLUYEMI OGUNSEYIN postulates three reasons Chukwueze should stay put at Villarreal.

Needs To Develop Into Better Team Player

Everyone including the avid football followers and pundits alike know for a certainty that Chukwueze is far from being the finished article.

The forward tends to play more for himself than for the team at both club and national levels as he probably always enjoys himself when dribbling and forgets his main reason for being on the pitch.

This is surely a major reason why his coach at Villarreal Javi Calleja has decided to always bench him during matches as the last time
Chukwueze started a La Liga game was January 25 when Villarreal beat Alavés 2-1.

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It means that the youngster has started his last six Spanish top flight matches for the Yellow Submarine from the substitutes bench while he has mostly been brought on very late in the games.

So far, so good in the 2019/20 season, Chukwueze has actually played 26 games in the Spanish elite division but he has made only 13 starts and as many substitute appearances.

Improvement On Goal-scoring

Chukwueze simply has to make a huge improvement on his goal-scoring, a point Samuel Eto’o also made in a series of interviews he granted earlier this week.

The four-time African Player of the Year believes that Chukwueze has all it takes to be ranked among the best players in world but wants him to be consistent with his goal-scoring.

Statistics show that the young forward has netted three times and rendered as many assists in 26 LaLiga games this season while he has four goals and four assists in 30 appearances in all competitions.

However, a look at his record in the 2018/19 league campaign where he scored five goals in 26 appearances, Chukwueze’s form appears to have declined.

If he cannot score on a regular basis for a club like Villarreal (no disrespect, though), then, one can only but wonder how he would be able to deliver at bigger sides like Barcelona and Madrid.

Needs Improvement On Crossing, Passing Skills, etc

For Chukwueze to thrive at much bigger clubs than Villarreal, he surely has to work on his other weaknesses such as crossing, holding on to the ball, passing and defensive contribution.

When push comes to shove and a team has explored all areas to break down the opposition defense, such side may resort to sending in crosses, that is a very weak area for Chukwueze.

The former Nigeria youth international also needs to learn how to stop holding on to the ball for too long while his passing abilities can be improved upon.

Lastly, the modern day football demands that every player, whether attacker or midfielder, has to play a certain role when the team is defending but Chukwueze hardly makes defensive contribution.