How Chelsea could line up with Frenkie de Jong
Stuart Telford
- Updated: 8 Jul 2022 12:28 BST
- 3 min read
Frenkie de Jong's transfer from Barcelona to Manchester United could get hijacked by Chelsea. How would the Blues line up with the Dutchman?
As reported exclusively by Football Transfers on Thursday, Chelsea have a formal interest in the Barcelona midfielder, and could gazump the Red Devils in offering Champions League football and the opportunity to live in London.
Should De Jong choose Chelsea instead of Manchester United as his next step, how would he slot into Thomas Tuchel's team?
Tuchel used a 3-4-3 formation - or a close variant - in 87 per cent of Chelsea's Premier League games last season, only playing a back four four times, and it's safe to assume the German tactician will implement something similar in 2022/23.
However, the personnel will be different, especially in the middle of the park, if recent reports are to be believed.
Jorginho and N'golo Kante were the first-choice central midfielders for Chelsea last season, with Mateo Kovacic acting as first understudy, but the pair both have contracts which conclude next summer whilst being the wrong side of 30.
Chelsea are understood to be keener to sell Jorginho than Kante, but their twin pursuits of Sporting Lisbon's Matheus Nunes and latterly De Jong could see the Frenchman follow the Brazilian out of the Stamford Bridge exit door.
What would de Jong bring to Chelsea?
De Jong is a player who likes to drop deep and take the ball off the toe of his centre-back before bringing the ball forward - be it by beating the opposition press whilst still in possession or with a progressive pass.
With defenders Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen leaving on free transfers for Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively this summer, and Chelsea set to lose out to Bayern Munich in the race to sign Matthijs de Ligt, Thiago Silva could have significantly less experience either side of him next term.
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Trevoh Chalobah, Malang Sarr and the recently linked Nathan Ake are all still learning their craft, and having De Jong there to distribute for them could be most welcome indeed.
His arrival would also allow Mason Mount to be used in his preferred attacking position without interruption. The England international midfielder top scored with 11 goals and 10 assists last term, despite helping out in a withdrawn role in some of his games.
