Why selling Davide Zappacosta could come back to haunt Chelsea in the future
The Chelsea wing-backs look like complete products who could remain at the club for a long time to come. While Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta have nailed down the left-back and the right-back positions respectively, they have been able to make the signings of Emerson Palmieri and Davide Zappacosta to provide backup in these positions as well.
Emerson is a Santos FC academy product who was acquired from Italian outfit AS Roma. After initially spending a year on loan at Roma, the Italian club signed him from Santos on a permanent basis in 2017 before he made the switch to London in January last season.
Zappacosta was signed from Italian side Torino in the summer of 2017 for £23m as a backup for the right-back position. He has already made a name for himself at Stamford Bridge with multiple solid performances.
While he is yet to start a game for them in the Premier League this season, he has started all the 6 Europa League games that Chelsea have faced so far this season.
The Sun states that Chelsea have accepted a bid from Italian Serie A side Lazio for the transfer of Davide Zappacosta. The report also suggests that he could be set for a loan deal that can be made into a permanent move in the summer.
While Chelsea skipper Azpilicueta has been consistently excellent for the Blues over the last multiple seasons and is capable on either end of the Chelsea defence, an unexpected injury could leave them in a tight spot.
With only two recognised right-backs available to Maurizio Sarri, he could regret selling Zappacosta as he would be forced to play someone like Ethan Ampadu out of position.
Another strong reason for Chelsea to not sell Zappacosta is the fact that he usually plays all the Europa League and cup games. This helps in keeping Azpilicueta fresh and ready for the Premier League games.
If Azpilicueta plays all the games for Chelsea, he is bound to get fatigued and would fall out of the form that he is currently showing.
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While it does seem like the right time to offload a player who doesn’t have a chance of breaking into the first-team anytime soon, selling Zappacosta in January could leave Chelsea short on depth, which could end up having a telling effect in the degree of success that Chelsea aim to achieve this term.