Chelsea FC: What Does Signing Of This Atlético Madrid Star Mean To Azpilicueta & Bertrand?

There have been strong rumours about Felipe Luis having already signed a deal with Chelsea and it is yet to be made official. Felipe Luis has been in great form for Atletico Madrid’s superb season this year and has been the subject of interest from Chelsea majorly as they look to replace star Ashley Cole who would be leaving the club in July.

Everything done for Filipe Luis to Chelsea, about contract too. Official soon. #CFC

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 13, 2014

Felipe Luis is a great balanced left back as he prioritises defence while he is a strong passer when he goes forward. With 107 tackles in the league, Luis shows his tackling skills which are really strong. He has also had 49 interceptions, 68 clearances, 8 blocks and another impressive stat is the number of players that dribble him per game, which accounts to 0.6 per game which means that opposition wingers dribbled past him only 20 times. This is an incredible statistic considering that most fullbacks do get beaten pretty easily by fast wingers.

Luis’ offensive stats are not as decorative as he has managed only 2 assists in the whole tournament, but that itself suggests that he focuses on defending as his first job, something which Mourinho would appreciate. Luis is a good passer of the ball, as he has an impressive pass completion of 80%. Luis may have focused on defending, but when time comes, he has shown that he is decent crosser as well and would love playing in a club which would like to play the similar system like Aletico Madrid’s.

Luis’ arrival would mean, better performing full back Azpilicueta would move to his favoured Right Back spot while Luis occupies the Left Back position. Branislav Ivanovic would probably give up his full back position for a centre back one, something which he is known as in his national team. Felipe Luis’ arrival would surely mean the end of Ryan Bertrand’s Chelsea career as the reserve Left Back would like to play more regularly.

Bertrand was used more regularly as a squad player under Rafa Benitez where he showed that he is capable of playing well at the top level. But Jose Mourinho is not entirely convinced of the left-back’s defensive ability, as he is more of an attacker than defender and we have seen him play wide left in the midfield, something which tells us about his attacking instincts. Mourinho would not have had issues with attack minded full backs who would be top defenders as well, and clearly Bertrand will need quite some time to reach his peak years and Chelsea cannot afford to play a semi-developed player in a key position.

With Felipe Luis is joining the Blues, Chelsea would most probably end the raid of Atletico Madrid after potentially having already assured the signing of Costa, Tiago and Luis. And by making surgical changes in the squad, there is full expectation of a well-functioning squad with a great understanding. With Cesc Fabregas taking up Frank Lampard’s position in the team, Chelsea would be having a similar team to what was when Mourinho had taken Chelsea to new heights.

Stats taken from squawka and whoscored