Chelsea’s Striker Hunt: Missed Targets and Future Plans

For a few weeks, it looked inevitable. Khadija Shaw, the most ruthless finisher in the Women’s Super League, was drifting towards west London as her Manchester City contract ticked down. Chelsea had identified her as the centrepiece of Sonia Bompastor’s rebuild. A ready-made No.9 to drag them back to the top.

Then Shaw fired City to a first WSL title in a decade, completed a league and cup double, and slammed the door shut. She was staying. No release, no late twist, just a blunt end to Chelsea’s most obvious solution.

The search moved on, but the pattern stayed the same.

Missed targets and closed doors

Attention switched north, to Sweden and the phenomenon tearing up the Damallsvenskan. Felicia Schroder, just 19, had bullied defences all year for Hacken: 30 goals, nine assists, a title, then top scorer again as they lifted the inaugural Europa Cup in May. She was young, prolific, and available if the bid was big enough.

Chelsea went huge. A world-record offer for a teenager. It still wasn’t enough.

Real Madrid moved faster, closed the deal, and unveiled Schroder last week. Another name off the board. Another plan ripped up.

Then came Salma Paralluelo. Or rather, didn’t.

The Barcelona forward, who scored twice in last month’s Champions League final, is the kind of talent clubs build around for a decade. She can play through the middle, she can devastate from wide, and at 22, she still hasn’t hit her ceiling. As her contract wound down, Chelsea made their move.

According to The Athletic, the Blues tabled an offer. Paralluelo turned it down. Her wage demands – north of £1 million a year – weren’t met. Arsenal, Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain and the cash-fuelled London City project all hover, sensing opportunity. Chelsea walk away, convinced they can find better value.

Three big swings. Three clean misses.

A blunt attack and a clear need

This isn’t a luxury search. It’s a necessity.

Chelsea’s attack misfired last season in a way that felt unfamiliar and, at times, alarming. The numbers strip away any excuse: 44 league goals, their lowest WSL tally since 2018-19 – the last time they failed to win the title. Only Leicester City, West Ham and newly-promoted London City Lionesses under-performed their expected goals by more.

Shot conversion? Third-worst in the division, again only above Leicester and West Ham. That is not a profile of a side chasing championships.

Context matters. Sam Kerr had been out for 20 months and only returned at the start of the campaign, needing time to rediscover rhythm and sharpness. Mayra Ramirez missed the entire season with a hamstring problem. Aggie Beever-Jones and Catarina Macario picked up knocks. At times, Bompastor had to improvise, shunting Lauren James or Alyssa Thompson into the No.9 role just to keep the system functioning.

Even so, the conclusion is stark: Chelsea lacked a reliable, specialist centre-forward. The position screamed for attention in January. It still screams now.

Shaw would have fixed that in an instant. Schroder might have been the long-term solution. Paralluelo could have been the wildcard star. All three said no, in their own way.

So where do Chelsea turn next?

Katoto, Banda, Leuchter: elite names, awkward fits

In a market starved of true No.9s, every big name comes with a complication.

Marie-Antoinette Katoto is the most obvious candidate. On paper, she is everything Chelsea want: a proven, elite finisher, still in her prime, with a career record that dwarfs almost everyone in Europe. She left PSG last summer as their all-time leading scorer, with 180 goals in 223 games. Those numbers belong to a predator.

Her first season at Lyon, though, never quite caught fire. Six league goals, one in the Champions League, and limited starts in Europe as Ada Hegerberg fought for the same shirt. She is adjusting to Jonatan Giraldez’s style, to a new environment, to different demands.

There is, at this stage, nothing concrete to suggest Lyon are willing sellers. Katoto signed a four-year deal only last summer. One muted campaign will not rattle OL. Yet if Chelsea want a top-level striker whose current situation isn’t entirely perfect, she sits near the top of a very short list. She is not untouchable in the way some others are.

Barbra Banda is another name that jumps out. The Orlando Pride forward has one year left on her contract in the NWSL, and players in that position always attract glances from Europe. Banda’s power, movement and finishing make her a nightmare to contain. But prising her out of Florida would take an enormous bid and a compelling project. Nothing about that sounds straightforward.

Temwa Chawinga? She has just signed a new three-year deal with Kansas City Current after winning back-to-back NWSL MVP and Golden Boot awards. That’s not the profile of a player about to be sold.

So the net drops slightly, from the absolute elite to those on the verge of that bracket.

Romee Leuchter stands out here. PSG signed her in the summer of 2024 with the idea she would learn behind Katoto. She did exactly that for a season, then stepped into the lead role when Katoto left. The response was emphatic: top scorer in the French league, 18 goals in just 17 starts.

She is 25, entering the final year of her contract, and her trajectory is steeply upward. For a club that needs a striker who can contribute immediately and still grow, Leuchter ticks a lot of boxes. PSG know that, of course, and will not be eager to sell. But her contract situation ensures conversations will happen.

The Schroder route: gamble on the next superstar?

Chelsea’s failed move for Schroder hinted at a different strategy: find the next great No.9 before she becomes untouchable. That sounds simple. It isn’t.

Players like Schroder barely exist. A 19-year-old who dominates a top league, carries her team in Europe and looks physically ready for the highest level is an outlier, not a template.

One of the few who even fits that profile is Michelle Agyemang. The 20-year-old England international belongs to Arsenal, which already makes any deal a political minefield. She is still coming back from an ACL injury, yet her performances at Euro 2025 – where she helped the Lionesses defend their title – underlined her ability to handle pressure and big stages.

Her pathway at Arsenal is crowded. Alessia Russo and Stina Blackstenius are already in place, and the expected arrival of Selina Cerci will only add to the congestion at centre-forward. On paper, that might tempt a young striker to look elsewhere.

In reality, Arsenal letting a talent of Agyemang’s profile join Chelsea feels close to impossible. Top clubs across Europe will be watching her situation this summer and beyond, but for Chelsea, this is more one to monitor than a realistic short-term fix.

Beyond that, the pool thins quickly. There are other promising young strikers scattered across Europe and the United States, but they are less proven, less tested, and far riskier if you need immediate impact. Chelsea cannot afford another season of waiting for a forward to grow into the role while the title slips away.

What Chelsea already have – and why it isn’t enough

This isn’t a crisis where the cupboard is bare. It’s subtler than that.

Ramirez is still a Chelsea player, despite links to Real Madrid earlier in the year. With Schroder now in Madrid, that interest may cool. The Colombian’s 2024-25 season was wrecked by a hamstring injury, but she returned to play twice for her country in June, an encouraging sign that the worst is behind her.

When fit, Ramirez transformed Chelsea’s attack in 2024-25. Her hold-up play, aggression and penalty-box presence gave the team a focal point they had been missing. Bompastor will be desperate to see that version of Ramirez again in 2026-27.

Beever-Jones is also expected to stay, even though her contract is up and no extension has been announced yet. James and Thompson remain flexible options who can step into the middle if needed. On paper, that looks like depth.

Last season showed how fragile that illusion can be. One or two injuries and the structure collapses. Suddenly, players are out of position, chances are snatched at, and a team built to dominate is scrambling just to create clear openings.

Chelsea want the WSL title back. They want to go deep in Europe. To do that, they need more than cover. They need a striker who changes games on her own.

The market is thin. The obvious targets have slipped away. The clock is ticking.

Someone will walk through the doors at Cobham this summer and pull on that No.9 shirt. The question is no longer whether Chelsea will sign a striker.

It’s who they can still convince to lead this attack – and whether that choice will be enough to drag them back to the summit.