Eyebrows were raised this summer when Chelsea agreed to pay £40million for an 18-year-old centre-back with just 41 senior appearances to his name.
The Blues spending lavishly on young talent is nothing new. But during a window when they pivoted towards adding more experience to their squad, the move for Honest Ahanor from Atalanta came as a surprise.
Ahanor, who is currently on loan at Crystal Palace, will officially join Chelsea ahead of the 2027/28 season and will expect to challenge for minutes straightaway.
The two-cap Italy international has enjoyed a rapid rise since making his senior debut as a 16-year-old for Genoa in September 2024. For those who have followed his career closely, this feels like a natural step.
Speaking exclusively to Standard Sport, Genoa sporting director Diego Lopez describes Ahanor as part of a new generation of Italian defenders who are stepping out of the shadow of the Catenaccio style that has dominated in the past.
“Football is changing,” Lopez says. “For sure, we have to take the best from the past.
“I think Italy is one of the best schools to improve and to understand the tactical side of football, and we need to not forget to take with us the identity of Italian football and to mix also with this new generation of players able to do maybe the things that physically not a lot of players can do.
“I think Honest is a good example of this change that Italy is now driving.”
Genoa have a history of developing top-level defenders to sell on to major European clubs, with Cristian Romero and Radu Dragusin both ending up at Tottenham after spending time at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Alessandro Marcandalli, meanwhile, has “everything to be a very good Premier League player”, according to Lopez, who has already turned his attention to the next defensive prospect out of Genoa.
“He is a player that has this profile, this modern profile of a young player. I mean, Premier League, Bundesliga, a top Serie A team. He is a player that is in a very good moment,” Lopez says of Marcandalli.
“He is growing, he is young. He corresponds to this modern profile, a kind of club that is looking to defend the pitch with bigger spaces in the back. He has this naturally.”
At 23, Marcandalli is five years Ahanor’s senior. Yet despite making just six senior appearances for Genoa, Lopez says Ahanor’s aggression, personality and versatility had already earmarked him as a player destined for bigger things.
He is a good player for the style of the Premier League
Genoa sporting director Diego Lopez on Chelsea signing Honest Ahanor
“He has the capacity to be aggressive, the personality to not be afraid to defend 20 metres, 30 metres from the goal, and to be determined to do it. He has the capacity to bring the ball and to find passes between the lines,” Lopez continues.
Given the two clubs’ relationship and Palace’s need for a centre-back in the final days of the window, sending Ahanor to Selhurst Park looked like a convenient solution for all parties.
Lopez, though, believes the decision was more conscious, with Palace manager Pierre Sage sharing a similar tactical philosophy to Chelsea’s Xabi Alonso.
“He is a player able to play two or three positions on the pitch, to keep this modern style of football. I know how Pierre Sage thinks of football more or less, and I think he's the kind of player of Xabi Alonso and Chelsea, or even Atalanta or Genoa.
“There are a lot of clubs that are thinking about football in these steps. You need to be physically very strong to be prepared for this level. But also a very strong personality to understand that if you fail your duel, the team is in trouble.
“Then, at the same time, to manage this pressure, to play with the ball and to break the lines with the ball and to propose something with the ball.
“So everything inside is not easy. That's why you don't find a lot of players with the age of Honest playing at the highest level.”
Lopez is confident that Ahanor will become a first-team regular at Chelsea, but he says Palace is a good step in his development as he looks to build consistency in a senior career that is barely two years old.
“I think it is a very good step, in all senses, because when you join a club like Chelsea at this age, it is a good idea to be on loan in a team in the Premier League to understand, because it is very, very different from Italy.
“They found a good project (at Palace) with a good manager that has no fear to put the young players [in], as he (Sage) showed last year in Lens.
“So I think it is a good mix, a good moment, a good player to the style, and I think he is a good player for the style of the Premier League in general.”
