Chelsea's chosen Marc Cucurella upgrade is perfect for Pochettino

Cameron Smith

• 5 Jan 2024 09:13 GMT
• 4 min read

Chelsea are one of three clubs interested in signing Real Madrid defender Ferland Mendy, according to reports in Spain.

The Frenchman has made just 10 La Liga appearances due to several injury issues, and Los Blancos remain keen on Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies as they look to upgrade their left-back.

The Canadian international only has 18 months left on his current contract at the Allianz Arena, meaning Thomas Tuchel’s side may be forced to sell this summer in order to avoid losing him for free in 2025.

As a result, Real Madrid are pushing to land Davies and may look to offload Mendy to make room for the Bayern star.

The former Lyon defender has divided opinion since he moved to the Santiago Bernabeu, but he has several top suitors in Europe, according to Spanish outlet Fichajes.

They have reported that Chelsea, Manchester United and Bayern have all identified Mendy as a possible transfer target for 2024.

Chelsea have Marc Cucurella and Ben Chilwell as their two first-choice left-backs, but both are currently injured and Levi Colwill has spent the majority of the campaign playing in that role.

Ian Maatsen is also set to leave in January, with Borussia Dortmund eager to land the Dutchman.

As for Man Utd, Mendy would represent competition for the injury-prone Luke Shaw, while Tyrell Malacia’s time at Old Trafford could come to an end if the Frenchman arrives. Bayern may be open to a swap deal involving Mendy and Davies if they are indeed interested.

Ferland Mendy: Chelsea’s perfect left-back upgrade?

Chelsea’s issues at left-back should’ve been fixed following Cucurella’s arrival last summer. The Spaniard joined for a whopping €65.3 million after a stellar campaign at Brighton & Hove Albion, but his first 18 months at Stamford Bridge haven’t gone as smoothly.

Chilwell’s injury issues also remain a problem, which is why a pursuit of Mendy makes perfect sense.

He has Champions League, La Liga and Ligue 1 experience, while data analytics experts SciSports say Mendy would be Chelsea’s third-best player if he were to join.

The Real Madrid star has a SciSkill rating of 108.4, which can only be bettered by Raheem Sterling (114.5) and Christopher Nkunku (111.2) in the Chelsea squad.

Mendy also has his injury problems so a pursuit may be stunted in that regard, but his ability on the pitch would help elevate Chelsea back to a level that over €1 billion of spending in just over 12 months deserves.

Cucurella may have to be sacrificed in order to justify signing another left-back, but adding another body in that position should be deemed somewhat of a priority considering Colwill has not been able to play at centre-back this term.

The England international would arguably be Chelsea’s best centre-back if he was given a run of games in his natural position, but he has been shunted out wide due to the injury problems that Pochettino has been forced to deal with.

Adding Mendy, and allowing Colwill to move inside to centre-back, would therefore be a smart and sensible move for Chelsea to make.