The Blues are keen to get Juventus’ star defender, Alex Sandro, to build up their left flank.
As in the last season Conte’s men often faced oppositions penetrating to the box from the wide areas mainly due to an inadequate one-on-one defending talent and positional indiscipline, scoring a well negotiated deal with Juventus to sign their left back will be a smart move by Chelsea FC.
Apart of being associated with a star name, Blues will surely have an edge with Sandro on their left flank – either as Center Back or Wing Back – in many technical and tactical standings too.
Sandro’s One-on-One Duels and Defensive Contribution
If we just compare his stats with the potential replacement targets – Marcos Alonso or César Azpilicueta, Sandro is superior to both in one-on-one battles overall and in tackles and take ons won specifically.
In the last Serie A season, the Brazilian defender has won 0.032 take ons per minute which is far more than Azpilicueta (0.003) and Alonso (0.008) combined in their last Premier League season respectively.
Likewise, Sandro has more number of tackles won per minute with 79% winning ratio compared to Azpilicueta (69%) and Alonso (70%).
He has a greater winning percentage of average duels won (55%) than Azpilicueta and Alonso (50% and 53%) respectively.
Sandro also has more interceptions, 0.0245 per minute, than Azpilicueta (0.0211 per minute) and Alonso (0.0173 per minute).
All these defensive statistics of the Juventus left back complement with his superb game reading skills, tactical smartness, and positional discipline.
With this, he would surely transmit an important element of Italian defending to the Premier League once he joins Blues.
Sandro’s attacking contribution
Sandro is undoubtedly a defender with an attacking mind, something highly regarded by the Chelsea boss.
He has played 0.0082 shots per minute in the last Serie A season out of which 28.6 percent were on targets.
He has more number of headed shots, 0.0023 per minute, compared to Alonso’s 0.0012 and Azpilicueta’s zero in their last Premier league season. He scored 3 goals and made 4 assists in his 27 Serie A appearances.
Though his shooting and goal scoring stats are not as attractive as of Alonso, other than his stats of headed shots, Sandro’s passing and ball playing skills are totally eye-catching.
He made 0.021 successful dribbles, 67%, compared to Azpilicueta’s 0.0033 and Alonso’s 0.0127.
He plays wonderful long balls; played 0.0432 successful long balls per minute with 68.5 percent accuracy compared to Azpilicueta’s 49.2% and Alonso’s 40.5% long ball accuracy in their respective domestic league last year.
This is something highly demanded by Chelsea to help them destroy their oppositions’ compacted midfield and defense.
Sandro has more number of key passes, 0.0222 per minute than Azpilicueta (0.0067) and Alonso (0.0092). Besides, Sandro’s key passes constitute as much as 4% of his total passes as compared to Azpilicueta’s 0.9% and Alonso’s 2%.
He has more number of accurate crosses 0.0152 per minute, i.e. accuracy of 31.7%, than Azpilicueta’s 0.0022, accuracy 18.2%, and Alonso’s 0.0058, accuracy 15.6%.
Finally, Sandro’s set piece stats is equally worthy of attention with 0.0105 accurate free kicks, having 100% accuracy, compared to Azpilicueta’s 90% and Alonso’s 85.7% accuracy in their last domestic league season.
Fit for the Premier League
Other than his extraordinary defending talent and highly incredible game reading and passing skills, Sandro is remarkably fast with his long strides and possesses very strong athleticism and physicality.
All of this makes him well-fit for an ideal Premier League player’s profile and signing him would certainly worth Chelsea FC investing up to as much as £60M.
Written by Farkhanda Jabeen
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