It feels slightly ironic that in negotiations with Juventus, Todd Boehly is trying to offload Timo Werner in order to sweeten the potential fee for defender Matthijs de Ligt.
Werner, who arrived with much fanfare over two years ago, is one of a litany of players that have underperformed and not met initial expectations. Part of the issue has been the German's limitations, his specific criteria for success, and his need to play on the counter-attack.
He represents one of few players who offer more questions than answers. For Thomas Tuchel, his options are not expanded, they are drastically limited.
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The chase for De Ligt is not that shocking if only because of his name value and £63m move from Ajax in 2019, the Dutch defender is a pretty obvious solution to a defensive issue at Chelsea. And when I say obvious, I do not necessarily mean it makes total sense.
De Ligt's potential fee rising beyond £60m is not great news and even if the option to send Werner the other way frees up space in Chelsea's attack to lure Raheem Sterling and Ousmane Dembele to west London, De Ligt could just replace one issue with a new one.
De Ligt, for all his credit in leadership and for his influence over Erik Ten Hag's youthful Ajax side in that incredible 2019 Champions League run, has not vastly pushed on since in Turin. If anything, outside the Ajax bubble, he has arguably regressed, showing technical and physical flaws which have dampened the initial hype.
This is not to say at 22, De Ligt cannot improve or still develop into one of the world's best, but for the premium you might pay for his services, it feels like a risk you could avoid in a crucial summer. Given De Ligt's frailties in speed and positioning, Tuchel might be instantly forced to protect him, which feels like a contradiction.
If a player is coming into upgrade an area of need, but instead of that investment offering the team more licence to attack or maybe alter formation, that investment leaves you with a problem to solve, in effect it is a limitation.
Tuchel has spoken in the past about looking to protect players in his squad like Jorginho, ones with less speed and mobility, which is understandable but some are pondering whether this hassle is one worth persisting with, especially given the lack of creativity seen in the final third, probably a consequence of playing a risk-free controlling possession game.
Even a brief overview of De Ligt's numbers compared to Chelsea's three young defenders Ethan Ampadu, Levi Colwill and Trevoh Chalobah, do not place the Juventus man in a league of his own.
Colwill, who was on loan at Huddersfield last term, betters De Ligt in successful sliding tackles percentage, aerial duels won and long passes per 90, the last pretty important in a team that switches play to its wingbacks through the back-three. De Ligt is undeniably at a higher level than the 19-year-old but if Chelsea are willing to spend their club-record fee for a centre-back, I'd be looking for more assurance.
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