Time for goodbye? – Chelsea should offload £23m ace in January amidst interest from Napoli

Why Chelsea should offload Davide Zappacosta with Napoli interested

According to Football.London, Italian club Napoli are believed to be interested in taking Davide Zappacosta on loan from Chelsea in January. The Italian has struggled to nail down a starting role at the West London club ever since he joined them from Torino in August 2017 for £23m.

Last season under Antonio Conte, when there was more chances of game time for him because of the back-three formation, the 26-year-old only made 27 appearances, with 11 of them coming from the bench.

Now with Maurizio Sarri in charge, the shape has changed and Cesar Azpilicueta seems to have locked down that right-back spot.

As a result, Zappacosta has only appeared three times this season, with two of those coming in the Europa League. Hence, it is perfectly clear that the Italian full-back isn’t going to be a first-choice player at Chelsea anytime soon.

Furthermore, there is another reason as to why the Blues should offload.

Sarri’s style demands more

Maurizio Sarri’s 4-3-3 formation demands more from full-backs because they have to do a lot of running up and down the pitch. The manager wants them to move forward with the ball, link up from the wide areas and also track back to cover the wider runs from the oppositions players when required.

The former Napoli boss also focuses on his full-backs being secure and incisive with the ball. It means that they should have the propensity to pass the ball along the ground with accuracy as well, and not just cross it without monitoring the situation.

While Zappacosta is a good crosser of the ball and can make uncharted runs into the opposition territory, his defensive covering isn’t good.

Hence, he cannot be trusted to play the full-back role with only two centre-backs behind. The Italian is probably more suited to be a wing-back where he has a bit more protection when moving forward.

Hence, knowing that Azpilicueta has nailed down that right-back spot and the manager demands more from what he has got, it makes sense for the 26-year-old to leave the club and find opportunities elsewhere.

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Chelsea should offload him soon and gain some money to buy a quality right-back who can challenge Azpilicueta’s place in the team. It would be a business ideal for all parties.