Chelsea’s on-deck centrebacks: Matt Miazga, Kurt Zouma ready for more
By George Perry
Matt Miazga and Kurt Zouma have become stalwarts for their respective loan clubs, and will battle Chelsea’s already stacked centre-back corps for a place this summer. Zouma has several advantages over Miazga, but both could reasonably be in Blue next season.
Only 56 minutes separate Matt Miazga’s and Kurt Zouma’s pitch-time this season. Both players are among the top few outfield players on their teams in minutes played, with Zouma locking down the right side of Stoke’s defence while Miazga protects the centre-left at Vitesse. The two are almost shadow partners, even though this summer they will be competing for a spot on Chelsea’s regular squad.
Zouma is more likely to play for Chelsea next season than Miazga. If nothing else, he deserves credit for a year of hardship duty at Stoke City.
Zouma has started all but three games for Stoke this season. Two of those three were against Chelsea, when he was ineligible due to his loan. Zouma has been the right centre-back in Stoke’s league-worst (58 goals allowed, -28 goal differential) 3-4-2-1 formation. He mitigates the damage to the tune of 7.1 clearances and 1.9 interceptions per game, second-best on the team in both stats. Zouma has also won 77% of his 132 aerial duels, a commanding lead over the rest of the Potters.
Matt Miazga also leads his loan club in aerial percentage, prevailing 63% of the time on 173 duels. He averages six clearances a game as the left centre-back in Vitesse’s more traditional four-man defence.
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The American has also closed a significant gap on Zouma and some of his competition at Chelsea. Miazga has put on a noticeable amount of upper-body muscle mass, ending the season looking like Gary Cahill after starting it with more of the Andreas Christensen body type. This is a key aspect of his development. As a left-footed centre-back, Matt Miazga is one more challenge to Gary Cahill. Miazga has improved his ball-handling skills to at least Cahill’s level, in addition to gaining the tactical sophistication that comes with playing in the Eredivisie. If he can match Cahill’s pure strength and physicality, he will have the better of the captain on every dimension save experience.
Experience, though, may be the ultimate differentiator between Miazga and Kurt Zouma. Zouma will finish the season with about 180 senior games between Saint-Etienne, Chelsea and Stoke City. Between Chelsea and Stoke he will have amassed two equivalent of two full Premier League seasons. He is ready to come in and battle Cesar Azpilicueta for the right centre-back spot.
Given the massive size difference – and the aerial prowess that goes with it – Zouma’s return could stimulate Chelsea’s return to a four-man defence. Any combination of Zouma, Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen would complement each other as the starting centre-backs. This would shift Azpilicueta to right-back, and Marcos Alonso, Emerson and even Rudiger could play left-back. Alternatively, Azpilicueta could evolve yet again into a right wing-back or defensive midfielder. These arrangements all show how Zouma’s return can make Chelsea two-deep across the defensive positions.
Miazga, on the other hand, still has well under 100 games in Europe to go with his 42 with the New York Red Bulls. We do not know if Chelsea counts Major League Soccer games towards their 150-200 senior games rule, but even if they do (we wouldn’t) he is still well short of the mark. Even though his abilities as a left-footed centre-back are unique and he could challenge Gary Cahill, he would not be able to displace Rudiger or Christensen in either a three- or four-man defence. He needs another year of development, which entails playing more than he would under those circumstances at Chelsea.
Miazga’s progress at Vitesse is exactly what Chelsea expects from players on loan there. Miazga started his first season there as a little-used substitute. He was a regular starter by the end of the 2016/17 season. This season he did not start the first three games, and since then has played every minute in the Eredivisie and Europa League, with the exception of two league games.
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The next step for Miazga is a Premier League or top Bundesliga loan. Everyone involved benefitted so much from Andreas Christensen’s loan to Borussia Monchengladbach. They should be among the top targets for Miazga’s last stop before Stamford Bridge.