Why did Chelsea loan Saul if they aren't going to use him?
Stefan Bienkowski
- 22 Oct 2021 16:05 BST
- 8 min read
Chelsea’s 4-0 victory over Malmo in the Champions League on Wednesday night was a significant match for a number of reasons.
Not only did it showcase Kai Havertz at his goal-scoring best, but perhaps more remarkably it featured none other than the forgotten man himself, Saul Niguez, when the Spaniard was substituted on with 25 minutes to go.
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Since joining the Stamford Bridge side on loan in the summer, the 26-year-old midfielder has been rarely used by Thomas Tuchel and led many to wonder why he was pursued so aggressively and brought to London in the first place.
Why did they sign him?
After being courted by Liverpool and Manchester United for much of the past 12 months, Saul ended up at Chelsea at the end of the summer transfer window after agreeing to join the club on loan.
However, despite the obvious implication that he would fit in quite well at Anfield or Old Trafford as a ball-winning midfielder, it so far remains to be seen just how much use he could be to Tuchel’s side.
If we can assume that Saul is best used as a ball-winning midfielder or indeed a classic No.8, it would mean the Spaniard has joined a club that already has at least three of them in the form of N’Golo Kante, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic.
Add to that first team reserves like Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley, who have featured from time to time, and it suddenly explains why Saul has managed just 146 minutes of game time at Stamford Bridge.
Perhaps Chelsea feared a serious injury to the aforementioned midfield trio, but unless that happens it does seem as though Saul will remain an unused signing for the foreseeable future.
Will he be of any use this season?
While Tuchel may be happy to use Saul as a bit-part member of his squad in lesser clashes, such as the recent Champions League clash against Malmo and the League Cup clash against Aston Villa, that doesn’t entirely justify loaning him in the first place.
Rather than fill in for the likes of Kante or Kovacic in the months ahead, it seems far more likely that Saul will remain an unused sub and even if he is given extended game time, he’ll more than likely struggle to make much of an impact, just as he has done for Atletico in the past 12 months.
So why did Chelsea sign Saul? For now, it seems as though the reason behind such a move was little more than greed and simply because they could. Even if it meant leaving the midfielder on their bench for much of the season.
