Who is Lesley Ugochukwu? The French ball winner set for Chelsea

 

Two years ago, Eduardo Camavinga left Rennes for Real Madrid. The Frenchman had established himself as a key man for the Ligue 1 side and Los Blancos acted accordingly to bring the now-20-year-old to the Bernabeu. Fast-forward to the present day, and Chelsea are hoping to pull off a similar trick with another young French midfielder from Rennes. 

 

Reports over the weekend suggested that the Blues had a agreed a fee with Les Rennais for teenage midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu. The 19-year-old featured fairly frequently for Rennes last term, with 14 of his 26 league appearances coming from the outset, though that was in part due to the raft of midfield options available to Bruno Genesio at Roazhon Park. When presented with the chance to showcase his talent, Ugochukwu didn't disappoint. 

 

The comparisons between himself and Camavinga are not a surprise. Ugochukwu operates in front of the defence and is a handy ball winner. 2.4 tackles per 90 ranked 43rd of those to make at least 25 Ligue 1 appearances last season, while a tackle success rate of 81.8% was the 10th best of the 213 players to attempt at least 40 tackles, reinforcing a statistically calculated WhoScored strength of 'tackling'. 

 

Opponents find it very difficult to get the better of Ugochukwu, which goes some way to explaining interest from Chelsea, who are in need of a battling midfielder, and Brighton as they consider replacements for Blues target Moises Caicedo. And it's not just with the ball on the deck where Ugochukwu is able to repel threats, but in the air too. Indeed, of the 292 players to contest 20 or more aerial duels, the youngest returned the 18th best aerial success rate (69.6%). 

 

 

So even if teams try to play through the Chelsea midfield or implement a more direct approach, Ugochukwu has what it takes to minimise the pressure on the Blues goal with the ball on the floor or in the air, which has helped boost his reputation. For a player in his position, though, retaining possession is of the utmost importance. It's all well and good winning the ball back from an opponent, but if you can't quickly and easily pick out a teammate, then it's all in vain. 

 

That being said, Ugochukwu boasts the composure and vision to find a teammate when he does rob a player of possession having returned an 87.6% pass success rate from an average of 43.7 passes per 90 in France's top tier last term. Those are hardly earth shattering numbers, but then it's worth noting that Ugochukwu doesn't turn 20 until next month, so an ideal foundation to build upon, and this is key. 

 

Ugochukwu is unlikely to move to Chelsea to immediately nail down a first team spot, yet the Blues are continuing their pursuit of hoovering up the best young talent in Europe in order to not only compete not only in the here and now, but in the future too. Given the departures of Jorginho, N'Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic, Chelsea need additional numbers in the middle of the park, and Ugochukwu will boost the west London side in a key area of the pitch. 

 

There has even been suggestions that Chelsea would cool their interest in Caicedo if, or when, they sign Ugochukwu given the similarities in their style of play. However, the Blues need a readymade partner for Enzo Fernandez, with the Brighton man the ideal fit to help the Argentine at the base of the midfield. It's possible, then, that Ugochukwu would remain in France for at least a season with partner club Strasbourg in order to garner regular game time in one of Europe's top five leagues. 

 

After a commendable breakout campaign with Rennes, Chelsea acted quickly to get this deal done. They were not prepared to wait around for Ugochukwu and run the risk of missing out on the midfielder to one of Europe's bigger sides, just as a number of heavy hitters missed the chance to sign Camavinga two years ago. Given Fernandez and Caicedo are only 22 and 21, respectively, Chelsea would be well stocked in the middle of the park for years to come once they add Ugochukwu to the ranks.

Who is Lesley Ugochukwu? The French ball winner set for Chelsea