Chelsea have been crying out for a midfield revamp for years and in the past few days, the club have finally taken action, agreeing on deals for Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia for a combined total of around £170m.
The sales of Jorginho, Kovacic, Kante (free), Loftus-Cheek, and Mount within the last 12 months, have allowed Chelsea to re-invest in a youthful, dynamic midfield ready to compete for the next decade.
This started with the purchase of Enzo Fernandez in the 2023 January transfer window, for a club record fee of £106m, and he has already shown his quality, and the need to build around him.
Chelsea and Mauricio Pochettino have seen the need for Enzo Fernandez to play further forward, and have on the face of it, signed two immense talents who can do all the defensive work that will allow Enzo’s talent to flourish on a more regular occasion.
But why have Chelsea targeted these two midfielders, and how will they impact this Chelsea team?
Moises Caicedo:
Chelsea have gone and spent an extraordinary fee on Moises Caicedo, but with good reason. The belief is that Caicedo will transform the club to bigger heights in the league table and be a pivotal member of the first team for the next decade.
Caicedo excels in defensive actions, averaging 2.8 tackles per 90, and 1.55 interceptions per 90, these are amongst the best tackling and intercepting numbers in the Premier League for midfielders.
For context, Mateo Kovacic who often started in the double pivot alongside Enzo Fernandez last season averaged 1.84 tackles and 0.94 interceptions, whilst Ngolo Kante averaged 2.48 tackles per 90, and 0.89 interceptions per 90 (although these numbers could be slightly misguided due to injuries and limited minutes).
Caicedo is a superb tackler, and reads the game exceptionally well, allowing him to cut passing lanes and win the ball back in advantageous areas of the pitch. This will also help Chelsea to counter press teams and create chances by turning defence to attack quickly.
Due to the injury troubles of Kante, and the defensive instability Kovacic offered not being a natural defensive midfielder, Enzo Fernandez was made to sit deeper in midfield, restricting his ability to go forwards and create higher up the pitch where he excels.
Caicedo is also an excellent passer and technician, which has allowed him to thrive in build-up under Roberto De Zerbi at Brighton. He was pivotal to Brighton’s first phase build-up patterns, due to his ability to scan his surroundings and progress the ball with his quality passing.
This fits perfectly with Pochettino’s system, as Pochettino likes one of his pivot players to drop deeper in the first phase of the build-up to work out from the back. The Ecuadorian averages 66.12 passes attempted per 90, has an 88.8% competition rate, and plays 6.33 progressive passes per 90.
Romeo Lavia:
Moving on to Romeo Lavia, a player Chelsea and especially Joe Shields have been interested in since January.
Lavia is far from the finished article, but he is a gem of a talent. His pure athleticism and power allows him to cover a lot of ground, win duels all over the pitch and shrug off opposition players when dribbling with and retaining the ball.
He is also only 19 years of age, and has a very mouldable profile. Pochettino has worked with many rough diamonds in his career, and has managed to get the best out of younger players. Lavia is a world class talent, who is blessed with both an athletic frame/architype, as well as brilliant base level technical ability.
Lavia averages 2.56 tackles per 90, 1.23 interceptions per 90 and 1.94 blocks per 90. These defensive numbers are similar to those of Caicedo, and this makes it clear what Chelsea were looking for this summer from their midfield reinforcements.
These numbers above could be slightly inflated due to the nature of team Lavia was playing on last season, however his ability to protect the Southampton defence and cover ground for his team was brilliant and is shown in his statistics.
As mentioned, Lavia also has a great base level of technical ability, with excellent passing range for such a young age, still making 4.01 progressive passes per 90, and completing 85.7% of his passes per 90.
But another brilliant facet of Romeo Lavia’s play is his ability to drive with the ball and evade pressure in the middle of the park. Using his agility, power and frame, he is extremely press resistant and completes 1.15 take ons per 90 (which is in the top 76% of midfielders).
This also means Lavia can progress the ball, not just with his passing, but by driving through midfield, taking multiple players out of the game with one action.
The fit of Caicedo and Lavia at Chelsea:
So as we have established, Chelsea have signed two defensively inclined, duel winning midfielders, who cover a lot of ground and are good in the first phase of build up. But why is that important?
To free up the excellent Enzo Fernandez.
By acquiring two of the best ball winning midfielders in the Premier League, Chelsea can now unleash Enzo Fernandez further up the pitch, where he can be creative and cause problems for opposition defences.
Enzo averages 9.54 progressive passes per 90, and attempts 80.61 passes per 90, which both rank in the top 97% amongst midfielders. Enzo also registers a whopping 3.04 shot creating actions, and this was whilst playing deeper for Chelsea last season.
By allowing Enzo to play further forwards and giving him more licence to roam and create, Chelsea will find themselves having more chances in games, and ultimately scoring more goals. We have seen his passing ability split defences open already on numerous occasions, so imagine what he can do given the license to do so on a regular basis.
The second point to be made about the signings of Caicedo and Lavia is that by having two players who can cover a lot of ground, it will allow Chelsea to push their two attacking fullbacks in Ben Chilwell and Reece James higher up. This is where the English pair thrive, getting into the final third.
By pushing the fullbacks high up, and having Caicedo and Lavia playing centrally, it will allow Chelsea to sustain pressure in the opposition half, trapping them in and not allowing them to get out. This also provides stability because if the ball does break, the athleticism of both Caicedo and Lavia will allow them to recover defensively and stop the opposition from breaking.
The last factor I want to point out, is the fact that both players are very good in the first phase of build up, and this will allow Pochettino to be flexible with his systems. We have seen Pochettino use a variety of different rotations in his short Chelsea career thus far, having one of his fullbacks become a central defender, whilst the other fullback provides width, and we have also seen one of the double pivot midfield players drop into the back line to form a back three in build up, using the “half back” role.
These rotations always end up with Chelsea forming a “box midfield” in the middle of the park, usually with the two pivot players at the bottom of the box, and the number 10 + one of the wingers forming the top of the box. However when using a “half back”, this allows both fullbacks to provide the width, and the “box midfield” is formed by the remaining pivot player and the number 10/AM at the bottom of the box, and the two wingers/inside forwards at the top of the box.
Both Caicedo and Lavia can play in this “half back” role, and build up play from the back, and they are also both comfortable playing at the bottom of the “box midfield”. This will allow Pochettino’s Chelsea to be extremely fluid with their movements, and unpredictable.
Conclusion:
In Conclusion, I believe the additions of both Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia will transform the Chelsea midfield, and we will see the best out of Enzo Fernandez due to these additions.
I believe all three of these players will be extremely successful at Chelsea, and they all complement each other’s game. I am excited to see these three playing together, and I think you should be too!
Of course, a high rating will fla-real-property.com contribute to the effective development of your business.