Chelsea were linked with Mousa Dembele in the summer, was not following up their pursuit of the Tottenham midfielder a mistake?
Tottenham midfielder Mousa Dembele scored an excellent late winner in the Europa League on Thursday night, giving his side all three points against Anderlecht.
His goal underlined his quality, showing that he is ready to play a major role this season after being underutilised by head coach Mauricio Pochettino in 2014/15.
Last season he averaged under 45 minutes of football per appearance in the Premier League, which led to speculation he could be heading for a summer exit. The Sun reported reigning champions Chelsea wanted to sign him.
At the time such a move looked peculiar considering Chelsea had a successful title winning season, also lifting the Capital One Cup, and Dembele had struggled to get into the Spurs side.
Yet right now a Dembele to Chelsea transfer would surely have left Jose Mourinho’s side better off. The Blues are English football’s biggest disappointment of the 2015/16 season, a shadow of the team which performed so strongly last year.
Dembele would have added much needed competition to Chelsea’s midfield over the summer, an area of their squad which remained stagnant over the transfer window, and would have benefitted from fresh faces.
| Mins per Key Pass | Mins per Touch | Mins per Final Third Pass | Mins per Ball Recovery | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eden Hazard | 30.21 | 1.21 | 3.27 | 18.25 |
| Willian | 41.44 | 1.36 | 4.74 | 14.41 |
| Cesc Fàbregas | 42.2 | 0.9 | 3.23 | 10.68 |
| Nemanja Matic | 100.14 | 1.15 | 6.87 | 9.74 |
| Mousa Dembélé | 104.8 | 1.32 | 8.32 | 10.92 |
| Oscar | 125.33 | 1.15 | 5.61 | 13.93 |
| John Obi Mikel | 177 | 1.11 | 6.81 | 12.64 |
| Ramires | 409 | 1.35 | 12.39 | 16.36 |
In terms of the frequency of winning the ball back for his side, Dembele would rank third among Chelsea’s midfielders this season, behind only Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas.
From a creative point of view he is not as prolific as his Chelsea peers, but this side of his game could have improved by linking up with Chelsea’s more established – yet underperforming – attack.
Chelsea fans may prefer dozens of alternate midfield signings instead of Dembele, given their spending power, but the Belgian’s potential addition was mooted, and they would really struggle to get Tottenham to let him go now after the form he has shown over the past month.
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