“I like to steal the ball” – The stats that explain why Chelsea pushed to secure 20 year old | OneFootball

While the news that Chelsea were going to sign Geovany Quenda from Sporting CP got a lot of attention last week, the move for his erstwhile teammate Dario Essugo is perhaps more immediately interesting because it will take this summer rather than next.

The Athletic have just dropped a really interesting piece looking at the young midfielder’s career so far and what he might bring to Chelsea’s squad from this summer. They start by quoting the 20 year old himself upon his unveiling at Las Palmas on loan this season: “I like to steal the ball and move forward. I can provide defensive security.”

That sounds like like Moises Caicedo, and we can see why he’s been chosen as a potential backup. The stats reinforce that view: Essugo makes 1.9 interceptions per 90 minutes, putting him in the top 5 in La Liga. The piece also notes he’s increasingly able on the ball, and is willing to try to beat a man makes him much more offensively dangerous than some others in his position.

He also uses his body well and wins duels at a good rate, and can strike a really clean shot on occasion. We’re sure Enzo Maresca will want him playing a very controlled and restricted game, but he’s got it in his locker to do more.

Chelsea fans to get early preview in USA

Dario Essugo winning the ball back against Real Betis. (Fran Santiago/Getty Images)

As we reported last night, he will also be available to us during the Club World Cup, meaning it should only be a few months before we get a taste of him in action.

Given Caicedo will then have reached the end of a very gruelling season in terms of minutes played, we suspect we’ll get some Essugo action right off the bat, so we can see how accurate some of these impressions are of his game.