Chelsea’s new arrival backed to become instant third choice in his position by Athletic writers | OneFootball

Mamadou Sarr was Chelsea’s only January addition, and his made his first appearance on Friday. How many more games will he start?

The Straight Out Of Cobham podcast this week had writer Luke Bosher speculate that we could see January arrival Mamadou Sarr play “6 or 7” full 90 minute games this season after his first team debut on Friday.

It’s possible, but it’s a long shot.

Sarr will get starts, but faces battle to jump the queue

Mamadou Sarr in action in against Hull City. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

We have no doubt that Chelsea will try to use him as much as possible, to see how he handles the Premier League; and to see whether he will be ready for regular starts next season, or whether they will need to invest in a central defender in the summer.

But it’s tricky to know where all those starts will come from, given how important every remaining game is.

The next round of the FA Cup where we face Wrexham gives him another chance. But if Wesley Fofana and Trevoh Chalobah stay fit, they’re going to start the bulk of games at the back. Sarr would have to jump ahead of Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile and Josh Acheampong in the pecking order at Stamford Bridge to get that many starts. It’s possible, given none have been in great form. But it’s quite the leap for a new arrival still adapting and acclimatising.

There are probably fewer than 20 games left in the season – is Sarr going to start more than 25% of them?

In other news…

Cole Palmer’s return to scoring form has been helped by his penalties – but how exactly does he do it? There’s a trick to it…

Nicolas Jackson’s future has been the big talking point of the day, with tons of speculation about whether he could come back to Chelsea.

Check out the latest edition of Simon Phillips’ SPTC podcast here: