Five Left-Back options for Chelsea to consider in January
Ben Chilwell had a terrific start to the season with Chelsea after being eased back in post a disappointing Euro campaign for him personally. He was tremendously effective and his style of play at left wing-back and was a key element of the Blues attack.
The club waited to see his response to returning to training after a suspected ACL injury before recently opting for surgical correction which effectively ruled him out for the rest of the season — a cruel blow to the London club.
Back up left wing-back option Marcos Alonso has done a decent job stepping in but defensively remains suspect and in any case, can’t bear the burden of a physically demanding role alone, hence making it imperative that Chelsea supplement the squad with another quality option in the left wing-back role.
With attempts to bring back Emerson Palmieri taking center stage, it’s beginning to seem like that will be a difficult operation to undertake given no clause to allow an early call-back in his loan deal, as well as his importance to the Lyon side who also possess an option to buy for him.
Young Ian Maatsen is one for the future and seems unlikely to have his progress halted to be brought back.
That leaves the London club in a position where they must secure a defender capable of fulfilling the left wing-back role to the standard needed for a club like Chelsea. While also either being a loan deal or a future prospect so as to not leave Chelsea in a position of having 5 left backs next summer with 4 players needing to be moved on.
Let us first examine Chilwell’s style of play and what facets of it made him such a crucial addition to the Chelsea attack.
Per the excellent SmarterScout, a look at Chilwell’s Premier League and UCL numbers from this season suggests a style with high ball retention, good attacking output, excellent link-up play ratings, good ratings for receiving the ball in the box in threatening positions and strong numbers at disrupting opposition moves.
With these in mind, I’ve run these criteria through Smarterscout as well as evaluated the probability and feasibility of moves to come up with 5 left-back options Chelsea can sign this summer.