Chelsea Linked With Ligue 1 Midfield Ace: Why Sarri Should Make A Move

Following the departure of Cesc Fabregas to AS Monaco, Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri is now desperate to sign a midfielder and it is believed that the Blues have already made an enquiry for Adrien Rabiot – as reported by L’Equipe.

The French news outlet claims that the Premier League giants are ready to hijack Barcelona’s move for Rabiot, who will leave PSG after falling out with coach Thomas Tuchel.

Adrien Rabiot: Just who Sarri needs?

Rabiot is widely regarded as one of the best midfielders in the Ligue 1, who is known for his technical astuteness. The Frenchman is a smooth passer of the ball and much like Chelsea’s midfield sensation Jorginho, he likes to distribute possession using short passes.

He has attained an excellent passing accuracy of 93% this season – better than any Chelsea player so far. But, his strength is not only limited to crisp passing as the 23-year-old is also known for his excellent positional awareness that allows him to stay one step ahead of the opposition.

Rabiot hardly gets caught out of possession and is always aware of his opponent’s next move. And his ability to adapt to any given situation of a game is what makes him a tactically astute midfielder, who seems like a tailor-made fit for Maurizio Sarri’s tactical setup at Chelsea.

Furthermore, the PSG star has averaged 2.5 tackles per game so far, which is indicative of his willingness to press the opposition midfielders and restrict them from getting too much time on the ball – something that tunes in well with the fast-paced nature of English football and especially for Sarri, who likes his team to play at a high tempo both in attack and defence.

He is also a versatile player, who, despite being labelled as a central midfielder, can be utilized as a deep-lying playmaker or even as a holding midfielder. This could help Sarri rotate his squad much more often and thus, not rely too much on his trusted midfield duo of N’Golo Kante and Jorginho.

However, it would be interesting to see how the Italian mastermind will manage to accommodate Rabiot into his formation unless he decides to opt for three defensive midfielders in his 4-3-3. And for someone as good as Rabiot, using him only as a back-up for Jorginho would definitely appear impractical not just for the player but for the coach as well.

But, the prospect of seeing Rabiot arrive at Stamford Bridge on a cut-price fee is something Chelsea should definitely explore as we head into the halfway point of the winter transfer window.

Stat courtesy: Whoscored