Cesc Fabregas reckons Chelsea star Benoit Badiashile – who put in “the worst Premier League performance in the last two seasons” in their 4-1 defeat to Liverpool – is “one of the best ball-playing centre-backs in Europe.”
Badiashile joined Chelsea for £35m from Monaco in January 2023 and was one of few positives for the Blues in the second half of last season, but he’s struggled with both form and injuries this term, along with the majority of his teammates.
He’s started six of Chelsea’s last ten Premier League games, and was particularly poor in the defeat to Liverpool, after which Gabby Agbonlahor described his display as “probably the worst centre-half performance I’ve seen in the Premier League in the last two seasons”.
But Fabregas, who played alongside Badiashile for Monaco, says there aren’t many better ball-playing centre-backs around as he assessed Chelsea’s season and their approach in the transfer market.
Asked if Pochettino not knowing his best team has had an impact on Chelsea’s season, Fabregas told the Planet Premier League podcast: “This could be one of the things, for sure.
“They’ve had injuries, obviously, I think they went for physicality – they have very, very strong, fast players.
“They’re looking for the future and it’s something we need to understand and we need to take into consideration. But Chelsea demands results now, today, no matter what, also I think they have a responsibility for the fans, for the history over the last 20, 25 years, to achieve some success.
“It’s not happening at the moment. I do think Mauricio is a really good coach but, yeah, it still feels like they haven’t found their eleven, they still haven’t found their best formation, or the one that suits best the players they’ve got at the moment.
“Let’s not get away from the point that there’s a lot of quality. Yes, there’s physicality, yes, they went for speed, they went for strength but they do have a lot of quality in midfield. [Moises] Caicedo was a top player for Brighton, he was one of the best young players at the World Cup, [Enzo] Fernandez. [Raheem] Sterling, nothing to be said, [Cole] Palmer, really, really top talent, [Christopher] Nkunku, when he gets fits, he was flying in the Bundesliga.
“I played with [Axel] Disasi and Badiashile, Badiashile is one of the best ball-playing centre-backs, young players in Europe.
“So there is a lot of quality, a lot of talent but they do need to find their best shape. It’s not all about tactics but they do need to fit their best players in their best positions and I don’t think they’ve found that yet.”
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