Chelsea announce the signing of a new defender Benoit Badiashile
Chelsea have announced the arrival of defender Benoit Badiashile from Ligue 1 side AS Monaco (Official Chelsea website). The 21-year-old spent five years in Monaco, developing from a youth prospect into a key first-team player.
Sky Sports have reported that the deal is worth around £35m on a seven-and-a-half-year contract. Under the new regime, the Blues have been offering longer-term contracts to young players. Reece James and Armando Broja signing new deals for an extended period of time are examples of that.
Badiashile is a left-sided defender who is an experienced first-team player despite being so young (21). After representing the youth sides of Monaco, the Frenchman started making senior appearances for them from the 2018/19 season onwards.
As a result, he has made 135 appearances for the Ligue 1 side, scoring six goals and assisting three, while playing all of his games as a centre-back, predominantly on the left-hand side.
Chelsea have been eyeing up to sign a left-sided centre-back since the summer transfer window. They agreed on personal terms with RB Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol, but the price tag was too steep.
A few days ago, The Athletic reported that the Blues are looking to add a striker and a defender in the January window. With the arrival of Badiashile, one of the tasks is complete.
Badiashile can slot in on the left-hand side of a three-man central defence under Graham Potter. He is excellent on the ball, reads the game well, is physically strong and possesses rapid pace to make recovery runs against pacy attackers.
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We hope that he is fit and ready to go as there have been issues in our defence this season. Playing a natural left-footed centre-back on the left-hand side would add a different dimension in terms of our build-up play from the back and also the defensive game.