Chelsea centerback scouting part four: Benoit Badiashile

Passing

As mentioned earlier in this piece, Badiashile is a superb passer of the ball. His passing improved a lot this season though, which speaks volumes to not only his progress, but also his ability. He would be required to make a lot more passes than he’s currently making, but he’d also be required to start attacks with his passes. This is something Chelsea has lacked in recent years, but gotten better at due to Thiago Silva joining the club.

Unsurprisingly Badiashile averaged less passes per game (56) over the period in question. In that time, Zouma and van Dijk have averaged 66.8 and 68.9 passes per game. Badiashile’s passing numbers are affected by the period of time, as he has completed 4.7 long balls per game since the beginning of last season, with Zouma and van Dijk completing 5.0 and 5.5 long balls per game respectively. It is affected because Badiashile has completed more long balls per game than his Premier League counterparts this season.

Badiashile has averaged 4.5 progressive passes per game over the period under scrutiny, the same as van Dijk, and higher than Zouma’s 3.1. As such, about 8.4 percent of Badiashile’s passes are long balls; compared to 7.5 percent of Zouma’s and 8 percent of van Dijk’s. 8 percent of Badiashile’s passes are progressive, compared to 4.6 percent of Zouma’s and 6.5 percent of van Dijk’s. Badiashile already starts attacks for Monaco and therefore, he will fit in very well at a club like Chelsea. Though he’s very tall, he still moves with quite some grace and technical skill.