It seems that Chelsea will need to pay upwards of £41million if they’re to land Inter Milan defender Denzel Dumfries this summer. The exciting Dutchman is a target for Thomas Tuchel, who is keen to add more depth to his right-back position for the up-and-coming campaign.
Reports suggest the Blues have already agreed personal terms with Dumfries, however agreeing a price with Inter is proving far from straightforward and they’ve already had one bid thought to be in the region of £20.5m turned down.
Despite only arriving at the San Siro 12 months ago, Inter are open to allowing the defender to leave this summer, although they won’t consider selling for a fee below their £41m asking price.
That’s a steep figure considering Tuchel already has strong profiles in that position like Reece James and Cesar Azpilicueta. The latter though could be allowed to join Barcelona meaning Dumfries would be arriving to provide James with some stiff competition.
The 25-year-old certainly has the potential to do that and enjoyed a strong campaign in Serie A last season. He netted five league goals - the same number as James did in the Premier League - while registering a further four assists.
James actually bettered that assist return with a total of nine. The Chelsea man also boasts a better average in terms of shot-creating actions per 90 too with 3.81 compared to Dumfries’ 2.44.
The England international actually performed better than Dumfries in most other key attacking metrics last season. On top of the above, he averaged more progressive carries, dribbles and key passes per 90.
Despite James looking the superior attacker, there are important points to consider. Chelsea (61 per cent) averaged more of the ball last season in their matches than Inter (57 per cent). James also tended to be more heavily involved in build-up play, so much so that he was the target of around 70 passes per 90 on average. Dumfries was the target of just 38.
Receiving less of the ball means he’s going to be able to influence the game far less than James can at Chelsea, but the Dutchman has illustrated a potential that suggests he could scale up his output if he was playing at Stamford Bridge next season. Not just this, but he has a number of good physical traits to his game too. He is six-foot, strong and fast. Each of these makes him not just a good attacker, but a solid defender too.
The numbers would suggest James is overall the stronger right-back of the two, which is a testament to the England man given he’s four years Dumfries' junior. However, the Inter man still has a very strong profile and would be a more than suitable rotation option should that be what Tuchel is after.
