In this Chelsea squad, there can’t be many players who have had a more rapid and complete decline in terms of expectations than defender Benoit Badiashile.
He showed real promise after arriving in January 2023 for €37m, and at the end of that season we were all looking forward to seeing what he could do with a little more time to settle in and improve. He even got his own song. At a dark time for the club, he seemed like one of the brighter spots.
But instead, the opposite seemed to happen. He got worse and worse over time rather than better, and by the latter half of last season most fans were totally despairing about his future. From the start of this season under Enzo Maresca he’s been very much on the B team, and even there he’s had some shaky moments.
Badiashile steps up to put pressure on Tosin
But last night was a good performance from the Frenchman, taking control of the game from the back and looking confident and calm – not something you could say very often about him in the last 12 months.
These Conference League games against weaker opponents are proving to be nice and remedial for a lot of our fringe players who have struggled. Badiashile particularly seemed to like playing centrally in what because a back 3 in possession. There he was pretty imperious, controlling the tempo of the game with his passing and knowing he had support either side.
We still don’t expect the Wesley Fofana – Levi Colwill first team partnership to be broken up anytime soon. But Tosin hasn’t been great as their backup, and it wouldn’t take much for Badiashile to climb above the summer signing in the rankings and establish himself as a solid number 3.
