Why Benoit Badiashile is proving to be a top Chelsea signing

Graham Potter and Chelsea have been gasping for air for quite some time, and after clawing out a victory over London rivals Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge, the club now has the opportunity to breathe.

With little working for the Blues following their gutting defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage, Potter awarded two players 21 or younger their first starts for the club in any competition. One of them is a new arrival, the 6’ 4’’ French central defender Benoit Badiashile from Monaco in Ligue 1.

With Badiashile alongside Thiago Silva in a back-four, the youngster could see what world-class defending and leadership look like. The French international helped contribute to the Blues’ first clean sheet in the last five matches in all competitions.

Moving from any other league in Europe to the Premier League is a transition that should take some time, and Kalidou Koulibaly has been a perfect example of that. Patrick Viera and the Eagles may be a team that has now lost three straight contests, but to see Badiashile perform as he did in his debut for a club he has been with for just about a week is a positive for things to come.

Potter summed up Badiashile’s first look at English top-flight football quite well:

"I thought Benoit did well, really well. It was a good game for him. He passes the ball well, and when he needed to head it out he did, he’s adapting to the Premier League and that will take time because he’s a young player. I think he’ll get better and better but the first game was very positive."

Is Potter going to put his faith in the youngster once again against Liverpool on the road? As he continues to get more and more playing time on the pitch in blue, the club and its fans will be able to make a more well-educated reaction to what kind of transition to the club he has made.

At this moment in time, securing top-level transfers during a period of frustrating results is not the answer. For example, Lewis Hall is preferred by Potter to a player he has a history with, Marc Cucurella who cost £60m, but when it comes to Badiashile, it seemed like a young player the club could not pass up with its aging defense.

Chelsea fans got robbed of seeing Joao Felix finish off a stunning outing against Fulham, but this time around the Blues saw Badiashile improve as the match went on. He seems almost too relaxed with the ball at his feet, completing an astounding 96 percent of his passes from the back. Not one of the Eagles’ athletic attackers managed to dribble past him while he captained CFC to a +15 over Palace in aerial duels.

Chelsea CB Benoit Badiashile was excellent against Crystal Palace

The Frenchmen made five progressive passes while accumulating four tackles plus interceptions. Badiashile made his presence known on Palace’s set-pieces, winning a game-high six aerial duels, tied with his running mate in the defense, Silva. With a packed crowd at the Bridge honoring a club legend before the match, Badiashile attacked the ball in the air with composure consistently to hold the Eagles in the final minutes.

It never felt like Badiashile was rushing anything in the back like many young defenders often do in a physical league like the Premier League. The Reds, despite their form as of now after their performance against Brighton, possess a talented attack with newcomers Cody Gakpo, and Mohamed Salah that is going to challenge Badiashile in the back in a different way than Palace did.

From Badiashile’s casual left-footed diagonal ball to Hakim Zyiech to heading the ball out of danger three times in the final moments of the match to secure a much-needed three points, the Frenchmen showed the club a little bit of everything in his first time out in blue.

It may have been his first outing in the Premier League against a mid-table team, but Badiashile seems to have the personality and quality to succeed in this league with the CFC badge on his chest.

With all of the drama and disappointments surrounding the Blues, it tells a lot about the player Badiashile to be able to put together an outing like that in a club that has always been defined by pressure.

Will Benoit Badiashile displace Kalidou Koulibaly from the starting eleven?