Why Chelsea acted quickly to land towering centre-back Badiashile

 

While much of the focus has been on Chelsea's on-again-off-again move for Benfica's Enzo Fernandez, the Blues quietly completed the signing of centre-back Benoit Badiashile on Thursday afternoon. Chelsea were linked with a move for the Frenchman at the turn of the year, but reports of their move for Badiashile were quickly dwarfed by rumours of a Premier League record move for Fernandez. 

 

In the last day or so, those rumours proven to be just that, with Benfica unwilling to sell unless Fernandez's monster release clause is met, yet in that time, Chelsea have strengthened at the back. It was only a matter of time before Badiashile secured a high profile move away from Monaco, and the question was who would spend big to land the 21-year-old. A summer move to the Premier League was mooted, yet failed to come to fruition, and while Barcelona were also aiming to swoop for the Frenchman, the London side acted swiftly to get their man. 

 

Considering Chelsea's ageing backline, a move for the young centre-back wasn't a surprise as the Blues gear up for life after the likes of Thiago Silva and Cesar Azpilicueta. It's a position that Chelsea have invested in heavily of late, notably in the summer when they brought in Kalidou Koulibaly and Wesley Fofana from Napoli and Leicester, respectively. Following the free departures of Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger for free, it was imperative that Chelsea bolstered in defence, and they have done just that with Badiashile. 

 

What stands out most about Badiashile is his size. Standing at 6ft 4in, he does dwarf over opposing attackers, and he uses his height to his advantage. Indeed, of the 124 players to contest 25 or more aerial duels, Chelsea's new defender has the fourth best aerial success rate (72.4%) in Ligue 1 this season, reinforcing a statistically calculated WhoScored strength of 'aerial duels'. 

 

 

When you consider that, at the time of writing, six of the 18 league goals Chelsea have conceded this season (33.3%) have been from set-piece situations, they needed a dominant aerial force to help protect the goal from corners and free-kicks. Badiashile will go some way to ensuring this number does not rise further. 

 

Offensively, Badiashile will help Chelsea build attacks from defence. In the modern game, it is key that centre-backs are able to pick out a teammate with ease as they seek to overwhelm opponents and dominate possession, which Badiashile will aid with. A return of 4.6 accurate long balls per 90 ranks 20th of outfield players in Ligue 1 this season, which for a side that relies on the full-backs, or depending on the setup, wing-backs, to stretch opponents, his willingness to get the ball upfield and out wide will help Chelsea blitz teams. 

 

For Brighton, Graham Potter had his centre-backs play the ball out from defence to kickstart attacks from deep, and the same demands will be in place at Chelsea as the Blues boss aims to successfully implement 'Potter-ball' at Stamford Bridge. In this regard, Badiashile is a solid fit for Potter in the capital. Favouring the left side, a respectable 38.5% of Badiashile's passes have gone forward in Ligue 1 this season. This is a benefit for a Chelsea side that has focused their attacks down the right this term, thus improving another possible route to goal for the Blues. 

 

Having penned a seven-and-a-half year deal at Stamford Bridge, the Chelsea hierarchy have high expectations for Badiashile in the capital, and understandably so. He has excelled for Monaco after breaking onto the scene in 2018, and has continued to develop into one of the finest young centre-backs on the continent. Supporters will be hopeful this is the first of many young, exciting signings as Potter receives the full backing of the board to mould the squad in his image.

Why Chelsea acted quickly to land towering centre-back Badiashile