Why Chelsea are pursuing the wrong Wolves defender

Cameron Smith

• 1 Mar 2022 21:15 GMT
• 6 min read

If there's one area of the transfer market that Chelsea have neglected in recent years it's the Premier League itself.

Over the past nine years, the Blues have signed seven players from the English top flight, with three arriving from Leicester City, and one each from Arsenal, Everton, Stoke City and Manchester City.

Ben Chilwell, Danny Drinkwater, Olivier Giroud, Ross Barkley, Willy Caballero, N'Golo Kante, and Asmir Begovic are the players in question, and only three of those remain at the club.

Recently most read

Which football managers have been sacked this season?

What is Man Utd’s biggest loss of all time?

Premier League managers: Full list of current bosses

Not only that, but Chilwell and Kante have been the only regular starters, although Giroud did spend periods of his time at the club as first choice.

The rest were really signed as squad players, and it shows an untapped market that Chelsea can, and should, begin to exploit more often. The three players mentioned who played substantial minutes for Chelsea upon signing have all been successes, so the hesitation to add proven Premier League players to the squad recently is slightly bewildering. That point is exaggerated by the lack of success when shopping abroad over the past two seasons.

Kai Havertz is slowly but surely growing into the Chelsea side, but Timo Werner looks like someone who won't ever be a consistent Premier League forward, while Romelu Lukaku certainly hasn't lived up to his price tag yet.

However, while the offensive signings haven't fit the bill recently, Chelsea's luck with defenders has been the opposite. Chilwell, Malang Sarr, Thiago Silva, and Antonio Rudiger, all signed in the last five years, have either lived up to expectations, or exceeded them, which is a promising sign for the recruitment department.

But, with the contracts of Rudiger, Andreas Christensen, and Cesar Azpilicueta all expiring in a few short months, Chelsea have turned to replacements. Several names have been floated about for months now, but one man in particular has caught the eye of the Chelsea scouts - Wolverhampton Wanderers centre-back Maximilian Kilman.

Kilman, 24, is a former England futsal international, but his form for Wolves has him linked with a call-up to the senior national football side and a move to Chelsea, according to several reports.

However, despite his impressive form at Molineux, Bruno Lage's men actually have another defender that Chelsea should be prioritising; they're going after the wrong Wolves defender.

Why not Kilman?

First of all, Kilman is a quality player, and someone who has certainly impressed this season. He's vastly improved under the coaching of Lage, and playing on the right of a back three, despite the fact he's left-footed, has brought the best out of him.

His technical proficiency is a good sign, he can drive out from back with ease, while he's commanding both in the air and when defending one-on-one out wide. So, he may seem like the perfect defender to fill one of Tuchel's wide centre-back roles. But, he's still fairly raw, and while he possesses all the talent needed, he can be slightly erratic when diving into challenges, and he's benefitted from the on-pitch tutelage of Conor Coady.

Now, he'd have that from Thiago Silva at Chelsea, but the standard is far higher at Stamford Bridge. He'd be required to defend more open space, and while he could be excellent at that, and would be a smart addition, he needs more frequent minutes playing on the left flank.

It may seem like nitpicking, but Kilman has looked far more comfortable on the right rather than the left for Wolves. His strong left-foot enables him to drive inside from the right channel, similar to an inverted winger, and this threat is nerfed when he plays on the left. Of course he could learn the position fairly easily, but it's one slight issue.

Another problem is the presence of Trevoh Chalobah. The Englishman has been superb as the right-centre-back this campaign, and he performed exceptionally against a dangerous Luis Diaz in the Carabao Cup final despite missing nearly two months of action before that match-up.

Rudiger plays off the left, and while Kilman is left-footed, he's never played frequently on the left of a back three. Furthermore, Rudiger may well stay, while Jules Kounde is clearly the preferred option as his replacement.

Kilman would be a nice addition to the Chelsea squad, but he's also only played just over 60 first-team games at the age of 24, so he has a lot more work to do.

In addition, the former Maidenhead defender just needs a larger sample size to be judged upon before a truly elite club comes in for him.

Who should Chelsea sign from Wolves?

While Kilman may not be perfect for Chelsea right now, Rayan Ait-Nouri would be; he's the Wolves defender the Blues should pursue.

Now, hear me out.

The Frenchman first popped onto the radar at Angers in 2019/20 as a great attacking threat down the left flank, and two years later that fact still rings true.

He was a rotation option in his debut campaign at Wolves last year, but has risen to prominence this time around.

A flying left-wing-back he's well-versed in the system Tuchel deploys at Chelsea, and could easily make the transition to Stamford Bridge.

Ait-Nouri quite simply dominates the left wing, and would provide the Blues with a far better rotation option for Chilwell than Marcos Alonso. The Frenchman's contract at Molineux doesn't expire until 2026 so getting him may be a tricky task, but if Chelsea struck this summer, he could potntially be prised away fairly cheaply.

It would certainly be a gamble, but he's worth it.

A completely different wing-back to Chilwell, Ait-Nouri relies on his pace and excellent close control, while the former Leicester man is simply a huge threat in the opponent's box; Ait-Nouri would provide Chelsea with some of the ball progression they miss with Chilwell in the side.

Now, the goal-scoring element to Chilwell's game was barely present at Leicester, so it could certainly be coached into Ait-Nouri, a player who currently stands out in three separate areas in the statistics - dribbling, pressures and tackles.

His greatest strength in possession is no doubt his ability to beat a man. It's something Chelsea lack massively when Alonso plays, and an element of Chilwell's game that he hasn't quite developed. Ait-Nouri's nimble feet allow him to get out of tight areas and advance up the pitch on a regular basis. In fact, his 2.28 completed dribbles P90 over the past 365 days ranks in the 98th percentile of full-backs in Europe's top five leagues according to Fbref.com; he's a monster in this regard.

Not only that, but Ait-Nouri is in the Tuchel mould of pressing. He's in the top one percent of full-backs in Europe's top five leagues, with 20.42 pressures P90, more than Chilwell's and Alonso's 13.74.

Furthermore, he almost makes more tackles P90 (3.47) than Chilwell and Alonso combined (3.69).

Ait-Nouri is a two-way full-back who excels in forward areas, and would perfectly fit the Chelsea system. Graceful and glamorous with the ball, and gritty and gallant without it, the Frenchman is the kind of shrewd signing Chelsea haven't conducted since signing a little-known player called N'Golo Kante.

Kilman is a great talent, but Ait-Nouri could elevate this Chelsea side, which is what the Blues' 2022 summer business desperately needs to do.