€22m Chelsea target’s superb defensive stats show just why Blues want him | OneFootball

Chelsea fans are now honorary Sporting CP fans for the next 18 months.

The Blues have just agreed a deal to sign 17 year old wonderkid Geovany Quenda from the Portuguese giants, but the winger will stay there on loan until the end of next season. We hope to see some fun goals and mazy dribble highlights to keep building our excitement.

It seems like Las Palmas could also start to be of interest to the Blues too. Dario Essugo, a Sporting player on loan at the Spanish side, also sounds like he’s close to a move to Stamford Bridge. He would arrive this summer rather than next summer.

We all know Quenda is a lightning quick wide man with amazing dribbling skills. But what does Essugo offer? We took a look at his SofaScore stats to find out.

Essugo shines in defensive areas – technical side needs work

Dario Essugo’s FBRef stats comparing him to other midfielders.

Playing for a weak Las Palmas team is never going to be easy – they’re 19th in the league but are still very much in the fight to stay up. If they want to manage that, they’ll have to rely on Essugo at the base of midfield to help them slow own their opposition scoring.

Essugo has a season average rating of 6.94, making him the 5th best player on their team.

His tackles, interceptions, clearances and aerial duels won all rank really favourable among midfielders in his position in Europe. His interceptions stat is particularly good – he’s in the 97th percentile for that number, showing how well he reads things.

Attacking wise he’s much weaker, and Chelsea will want him to work on that side of his game without doubt. Comparing him to Moises Caicedo, he’s got all the tools defensively, yet hasn’t achieved the same polish on the ball just yet.