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New Chelsea signing Benoit Badiashile could be set to make his debut for the club.
Badiashile was brought in from Monaco at the start of the month for a reported £32.7million fee, signing a lengthy seven-and-a-half-year contract.
The French centre-back adds to Graham Potter’s defensive options at a time when his team are struggling to keep clean sheets.
Ahead of Chelsea’s derby match at Fulham, we take a look at what Badiashile can add to the Blues’ backline.
Defensive woes
Chelsea have only kept one clean sheet in their last 11 matches across all competitions, losing six of the games in that sequence.
After joining Chelsea from Brighton last September, Potter often played with a back three and wing-backs, which was a strategy also employed by his predecessor Thomas Tuchel.
Since the domestic season returned after the World Cup, Potter has exclusively played with a back four, which might explain why the club acted decisively to quickly bring in Badiashile, once the transfer window opened.
Some of Potter’s central defensive options, such as Cesar Azpilicueta and Marc Cucurella, can only really play that role within a back three.
That leaves 38-year old Thiago Silva, Kalidou Koulibaly, Trevoh Chalobah and the injured Wesley Fofana as the senior central defenders suited to a back four.
In the 4-0 FA Cup defeat at Manchester City last Sunday, Potter played 19-year-old Bashir Humphries at centre-back, alongside Koulibaly. Badiashile was on the bench, but we should not expect him to stay there for long.
French fancy
Ideally, the 21-year-old centre-back would be eased into the team. Chelsea’s problems in defence suggest that Badiashile will not be afforded that luxury, however.
One of the reasons that Fofana was signed from Leicester last summer, was for his athleticism and heading ability. With the French defender having been injured for most of his time at Stamford Bridge, it falls to his compatriot to provide these elements.
At 6ft 4in, Badiashile certainly cuts an imposing figure and has the heading ability to match. He is also pacy, but unusually for a defender with such qualities, he does not rely on his natural athletic advantages.
Badiashile is a centre-back that plays aggressively, stepping out of defence to press forwards and stop attacks before they happen.
Left-footed, he is fond of playing long diagonal passes over to the right flank. Badiashile has mainly played in a back four at Monaco, but if Potter decides to make another tactical shift, then it is easy to imagine him on the left of a back three.
Silva’s gold
Fofana was signed for £75m and if he can regain fitness, he and Badiashile could be the long-term central defenders at Chelsea. They have already played together for the French Under-21s.
Upon joining the Blues, Badiashile spoke about rekindling his partnership with Fofana and learning from a more experienced figure.
Badiashile said: “I know Wesley very well. He and I have played together for the national team, so I’m really happy to be able to join him here.
“Then there are some really big names here in the dressing room, like Thiago Silva who is an absolute legend of the game. He’s a player I look up to and I’m really happy to have the opportunity to work with him and hopefully play next to him.”
Playing alongside an experienced leader like Silva could be helpful for a young player but for a variety of reasons, Badiashile is not likely to need a babysitter for long.
Calming influence
Silva’s contract expires in the summer and an extension has not yet been agreed. There has also been talk of Chelsea trying to sell Koulibaly at the end of the season, with the Senegalese international having disappointed since joining from Napoli.
That could mean that a young player, said to be laid-back and reserved, could well have a lot of responsibility soon thrust upon him. When asked whether his personality type is suited to being a top footballer, Badiashile used a Chelsea legend as a positive example.
He said: “We can see N’Golo Kante. He is calm and introverted and that does not prevent him from being one of the best midfielders in the world.”
The calmness of Badiashile on the field has been evident since he made his debut as a teenager at Monaco. That should serve him well as he faces the challenge of moving to a big club in a new league.
Chelsea fans should be reassured by the fact that two of the most impressive central defenders in the Premier League this season have been Arsenal’s William Saliba and Newcastle’s Sven Botman. Both are youngsters who were playing in France last season.
Unlike those two players, Badiashile has moved to a club in a state of mild crisis. Potter will hope that the player’s innate calmness will soon spread to his fellow defenders.
