Who is Hirving Lozano? The Mexican winger who is a transfer target for Chelsea
Chelsea have had a mixed start to the season – they enjoyed a blistering start to their campaign but in recent matches have put in some unspectacular performances, particularly at home.
If you asked any Blues fan what they wanted, almost all of them would say a new striker, but a replacement for the ageing Willian and Pedro this month is also a necessity for Maurizio Sarri’s men – especially as new recruit Christian Pulisic has been sent back on loan to Borussia Dortmund.
One target Chelsea have been linked to is Mexico and PSV winger Hirving Lozano.
The forward rose to prominence with a string of fine performances for his country at the World Cup last summer, particularly when he netted the winner against the then world champions Germany to send them crashing out the tournament.
His good form has continued for PSV this term – scoring 11 goals already to guide PSV to the league’s summit.
But who is Hirving Lozano? talkSPORT.com wanted to know more about the man who a reportedly one of Chelsea’s top targets this month.
How does he play?
Hirving “Chucky” Lozano is primarily a left-winger but can play on either flank. He is known for his dribbling skills and his ability to terrorise defences with jinking runs and pace.
Lozano, standing at just 5ft 7in, is no stranger to finding the back of the net either. It took him just five minutes to score on debut for his boyhood club Pachuca and he went on to score 31 goals in 120 appearances for his side.
Eventually the little winger caught the eye of the national team talent-spotters and earned a call up to El Tri in 2016.
The following year, Lozano signed for Dutch side PSV on a six year deal but it was the World Cup in Russia where Lozano really caught the eye – scoring against Germany to send them out the tournament.
“Chucky” has earned the reputation as a trouble maker too, he was sent off twice in his first season for PSV and has been compared to a young Luis Suarez for his temperament on the pitch.
What is being said?
Almost every Mexican player has a nickname and just like Javier Hernandez has “Chicharito”, meaning “sweet little pea”, Lozano has been nicknamed “El Chucky”, after the doll in horror movies as he is known to be a prankster and often enjoys scaring his team-mates.
One of his former team-mates Oscar Perez said: “Hirving is a different kind of player, he’s a player with great individual quality who makes a lot of difference on the field. ”
While Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio said: “Not only is he a very good player with the potential to be an outstanding player, he is also a very good human being.”