Chelsea: Can the Blues fit new signing Malang Sarr into the squad?

Chelsea’s wrapped up a few defensive transfers—including Malang Sarr—in order to solve the problems at the back, but does Sarr have a spot in the squad?

Chelsea completed the signing of Malang Sarr from OGC Nice and immediately, the Blues will send him out on loan. That begs the question, with the problems the Blues have at the back, could they instead fit him into the squad for the upcoming season?

Sarr came through the Nice academy at 15 and has since made 119 senior appearances for Nice. He has 102 Ligue 1 appearances under his belt at just 21 years of age. So, it is only a good thing that he has so much top flight experience already. He has even worn the captain armband for Nice when 36 year old captain, Dante, wasn’t playing. Sarr has represented the France National team at all levels except the senior level, but something tells me that debut isn’t too far away.

He has played four seasons in Ligue 1, all with Nice. Sarr is technically gifted, not afraid to attempt many cross-field long balls over the top, and complete a majority of them as well. Completing on average 64 percent of his long balls per game for the four seasons he’s played there.

He is not very tall, at just 6-foot (182 cm), but he wins majority of his aerials duels, though he notably doesn’t attempt that many. Sarr is also versatile; he possesses the ability to play left back and sometimes right back, as well. This versatility could help Chelsea as the Blues don’t have many defensive players, bar Cesar Azpilicueta, that can play in multiple positions in the back line.

Sarr is also an intelligent tackler and he reads the game very well. He’s a very Kurt Zouma-esque player, very athletic and just as technical. The Blues could use his services this coming season, but it would be disingenuous to ignore the fact that they already have a lot of central defenders on their roster. This means that Chelsea cannot fit Sarr into the coming season unless Stamford Bridge sees some departures.

There’s hardly been news of Chelsea players being linked elsewhere and even less so with the defenders. Chelsea currently has Antonio Rudiger, Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen, Fikayo Tomori and Ethan Ampadu. The Blues are also expecting the signature of PSG and Brazil stalwart, Thiago Silva, to round out the bunch. That’s a lot of centerbacks fighting for two spots in a 4-3-3 formation. It would even be a lot for a three centerback formation.

There’s talk of sending Tomori out on loan, but that’s all the rumors concerning Chelsea defenders departing. To fit Sarr in, Chelsea would have to sell—or send out—more defenders on loan. Marc Guehi has already gone on loan and there could be more following in his foot steps. Assuming Tomori is on the way out that’s still six centerbacks fighting for two spots.

One way Chelsea could manage this is to move Christensen and Ampadu to the midfield to deputize Kante in the defensive midfield role. Ampadu could also be sent on loan while Christensen is moved to the midfield, Sarr could then join to make four centerbacks fighting for two spots. Even that is still quite a lot, but not so much considering the number of competitions Chelsea will be contesting and the need for sufficient depth. Depth will be more crucial this season because of how the schedules are packed as players will often find themselves featuring in a lot of games in a relatively short period of time. Depth would also come into play when injuries hit. Of course, every club hopes to be on the right side of injuries throughout the season, but these things are often inevitable.

Admittedly, many things have to fall into place for Sarr to fit in—way too many things really. It can be done; however, and it would be beneficial to the Blues to have Sarr at their disposal for the coming season, even if it is for half of it. Chelsea can then send Sarr on loan in the winter of coming season when the club is absolutely sure it wouldn’t need him.