Cavani to Chelsea: seems like a done deal

Atletico Madrid SuperstarRadamel Falcao appears to be off to Monaco, taking a ridiculous amount of money in exchange for wasting the best remaining seasons of his career. Monaco look like they'll build a Ligue 1 challenger in very short order, but they are still a newly-rich project that likely won't compete on the biggest stages in the sport until Falcao is well past his prime.

Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski also appears to be leaving his current club in the near future, but he's all but certain to be joining Dortmund's arch-rivals, Bayern Munich. Chelsea could probably make a great deal with Lewandowski to make him join the Blues.

The only other proven, world class center forward that will likely be on the move this summer is Napoli's Edinson Cavani, which  is probably the most complete player of the bunch. If Chelsea was going to look to upgrade their attacking department, Cavani was now certainly going to be the player we needed to watch. It turned out to be a good thing that we were paying attention, as today I had news that Chelsea have been in contact with Cavani.

Most of you are probably relatively familiar with Cavani already, as he's been one of the top players out there for the better part of the last three years. For those of you that don't watch a whole lot of Serie A football anymore (and it's hard to blame you), we'll take a brief look at the player.

Cavani stands 6'1" tall (188 cm), and checks in at about 71 kg. He's relatively fast, stronger than he looks, and is a tiredless runner on the pitch. He turned 26 in February of this season, so he's probably fairly close to reaching his peak as a player.

As to what Cavani does well, I'd have to answer that with just about everything. He's one of the best finishers on the planet, he's excellent with the ball at his feet, he can pass, hold up the ball, and more than holds his own in the air. What's more, Cavani might be the best defensive center forward in the game today, pressing high up the pitch very effectively and helping out on set pieces.

He's primarily a center forward, but Edinson has also occasionally ventured out to the wing. He's capable of leading the line by himself, acting as a second striker, or even moving into a wide forward role if paired with a Didier Drogba or Romelu Lukaku type.

The downside of Cavani is obvious, and it has nothing at all to do with what he does or doesn't bring to the game. He's going to cost a ton. By a ton, I mean he's likely going to require a larger financial commitment from Chelsea than the Spaniard he'd likely be replacing. His buyout is astronomical, and he's going to expect a pretty substantial paycheck if we value him highly enough to meet it.

The upside of a Cavani signing is just as obvious as the downside. He's a ridiculously good player, and his addition would instantly transform Chelsea into the best attacking club in the Premier League. You could make a very sensible argument that an investment in Cavani would eventually hurt us under FFP, but any sort of argument that he wouldn't make us a better team on the pitch should only be met with laughter.

Some would see the addition of Cavani as offering some added benefit, as the new manager at Napoli isn't the most popular man with the Chelsea fanbase. Most Chelsea fans are just relieved that the interim one is employed by the club no longer, but the vast majority (myself included) would at least get a chuckle out of taking away his best player before he even gets a training session with him. I'd almost guarantee that the man about to be appointed would get a kick out of that, and there's just no Mourinho like a happy Mourinho.