Who is a better fit for Chelsea? De Ligt or Koundé?
Chelsea are already the reigning European champions and current Premier League leaders, but the Blues are working hard behind the scenes to make Thomas Tuchel’s squad even better. One of the key areas where Marina Granovskaia wants to strengthen is in defence and this is why Chelsea have been linked with both Matthijs de Ligt and Jules Koundé.
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There are reports that Chelsea could try to sign both De Ligt and Koundé within the next year, given the uncertainty over the futures of Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen. Real Madrid have learned this year that you can’t lose two centre-backs and hope just one replacement will fill the void, so Chelsea are prepared to do what it takes to keep their defence at the same level, or to make their back line even sturdier.
But, what if Chelsea can only sign one of De Ligt or Koundé? Perhaps this will be the case initially. So, in such a scenario, who should Granovskaia and co. make the priority? We take a look at that De Ligt vs Koundé question here and you can also have your say in the below poll.
Comparing De Ligt and Koundé
To start, De Ligt and Koundé are very similar in the sense that they’re almost the same age, with Koundé just nine months older than the Dutchman. They’d also fetch similar transfer fees, with Sevilla famously refusing to budge from their man’s €80m release clause during the summer and with De Ligt having cost €85m when he moved from Ajax to Juventus, who would want to recoup most, if not all, of that payment. The two centre-backs’ contracts even expire at the same time, in summer 2024, while they each joined their current club in 2019.
With both options costing similar fees and with both players at similar stages of their careers, let’s compare their performances so far.
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Looking at their club and country stats since 2019, De Ligt has been the more active player as he has been making 1.42 tackles per 90 minutes, 1.64 blocks per 90 minutes and 4.85 clearances per 90 minutes, while Koundé has been making 0.87 tackles, 1.21 blocks and 4.60 clearances. Often, such stats are different depending on the way a team plays, but the fact that De Ligt’s tackle success percentage is 62.5% compared to the Frenchman’s 47.3% means that the Dutchman probably is a better one-on-one defender.
Koundé can still win the ball back for his team, though, edging De Ligt in interceptions per 90 minutes with 1.13 compared to 0.90. For overall loose balls recovered, it’s 9.39 per 90 minutes for Koundé and 9.03 for De Ligt.
When it comes to what these centre-backs can do in possession, De Ligt has the slightly better pass completion percentage with 92.0% compared to Koundé’s 89.8%. But, the Sevilla man has been attempting more passes per game (67.9 vs 60.7) and he has been attempting longer passes (an average distance of 6.1 yards vs 5.3 yards). Plus, the Frenchman has been making more of his passes in more clustered areas of the pitch, taking 6.3 touches in the opposition third per game compared to De Ligt’s 2.99 per game.
Koundé’s superior stats in possession can partly be explained by Sevilla’s style, with Julen Lopetegui having implemented a possession-based philosophy at the club. So, it’s not to say that De Ligt can’t do more in possession. He maybe could if asked, but he has been playing in a Juventus side where his priority is on the defensive side of the game, especially given the excellent passers he has played alongside in his time in Turin.
It’s also worth pointing out that Koundé has rarely played in a back three, meaning that De Ligt might transition into Chelsea’s system more quickly, since Juventus often played with three at the back under Andrea Pirlo. On the other hand, De Ligt has always played centre-back, whereas Koundé has shown he can fill in at full-back on occasion if there’s a need to cover for absences.
The reality is that these are two of the very best young centre-backs in the world right now and they have a lot of similarities and parallels. If Chelsea can land either, this will be a coup. If they can acquire both, they may have their central defence sorted for the next decade.
