What would Marcus Thuram bring to Graham Potter’s Chelsea?

Chelsea are in active talks for Marcus Thuram according to Fabrizio Romano. Yes, everyone apart from Chelsea’s actual recruitment team seem to have a creative player as one of the priorities due to the fact the club currently rank 15th in chance creation in the premier league. 

However, just solely focusing on Marcus Thuram, I believe he would be a shrewd signing for us. The mere fact we’re making a smart economic signing like this, in the region of £10m, suggests there IS still a possibility we will end up spending big on a certain Enzo Fernandez this window. 

I don’t know why people on Twitter are cooking Thuram. He’s a quality player. Yes, he may or may not be the future long-term 9, or the long-term solution for the LW, but he’ll certainly bring us something different in those forward areas. He is a profile we lack.

I imagine he’ll be signed to predominantly play off the left but Potter prides himself on fluidity and flexibility so I expect Thuram to be popping up all over the forward line at times. He can also play as part of a 2 striker formation or can lead the line as a centre forward on his own, making him a more than attractive option, especially for such a cheap price.

Off the left, he reminds me of Rafael Leao, in terms of his direct and close control dribbling as well his physical and aggressive nature out wide. Thuram’s superiority in 1v1 situations is one of his greatest attributes. He is great at creating an extra yard of space in wide areas. His ability to go on the inside or outside of the defender makes him unpredictable for an opposing full back to defend. He also likes cutting the ball back towards the edge of the box as opposed to just crossing into an area and hoping someone gets on the end of it.

Being a 6’3 LW, his height will make him an awkward customer for full backs when they’re defending crosses at the back post, for example. He displays great intelligence in making penetrative runs, whether they’re from the left wing or centrally, and he has the pace and dynamism to break away from defenders.

Through the middle, he can act as a focal point. Someone you can fizz balls into, where he’ll hold it up and bring others into play, something Chelsea do not have in Kai Havertz or Pierre Emerick Aubameyang. Thuram also has good footwork in congested areas and can use his body effectively to resist pressure. Furthermore, he possesses the quality to consistently flick the ball with his head into the path of his teammates, starting off dangerous attacks and relieving any pressure from an opponent.

Thuram has great movement in the penalty box. He has centre forward tendencies where he attacks the ball well and tends to come alive in and around the 6 yard area and shows great innovation at times – he’s very good at improvising in goalscoring situations. 

Thuram loves a one touch finish and uses obscure ways to make contact with the ball goalwards. (Example – 0:25 of this analysis video https://twitter.com/CheIseaComps/status/1611784904555245568?s=20&t=MYhGjfUlKfwtAGzN-AkolA), an excellent ball striker on both feet, he demonstrates a really good technique when striking the ball, too. I would also say that he is good at heading the ball towards goal as he generates a good leap and has power behind his headers.

Other than all that I have mentioned so far, I also notice that Thuram uses his height to his advantage when winning aerial duels in build up and bringing the ball down. If we’re finding it hard to play through a press, he’s a great outlet to look to further up the field. 

With all of this being said, Chelsea still need a creator or must quickly find a way of regularly creating more chances within the chosen system other than having to rely on Reece James. For me personally, It is imperative we bring a creator in at the earliest opportunity in order to help increase the productivity of all of our forwards, not just Thuram if he does sign.

What are the potential risks of this signing?

In truth, not many, I really rate him as a player, the risks are more of what I mentioned at the start and above, how many chances can we create for him? Who picks out his runs that he makes at high volume on the wing? 

Marcus used to be rapid, he is still fairly fast now but he lost some explosiveness after a ruptured ligament in his knee ruled him out for 2 months last season. His injury list is not small and one could argue potentially enough to avoid the signing. 

Despite this, I believe if Chelsea do go ahead with this deal, he can adapt fast as he has the physical attributes, speed and dribbling abilities to cause a nuisance to defenders in England. Neutrals would have seen how much damage he did off the bench out on the left hand side in two sub appearances for the French at the world cup and the son of famous french icon Lillian even provided an assist to Kylian Mbappe’s equaliser for 2-2 in the final.

All in all, he is a technically adept and versatile forward which fits a key profile we lack (physical 1v1 specialist) and for the fee being quoted (12-15M GBP) it is an absolute no brainer for me. I’m confident in saying he’ll become a regular starter for Chelsea quite quickly. I think it’ll be a great piece of business and I am confident of saying it’ll be one where fans will eventually admit they were unfamiliar with the recruitment team / Thuram’s game.