Chelsea added to their options at the back during the January transfer window by acquiring defender Emerson Palmieri from Italian outfit Roma.
The 24-year-old joined the Blues for a reported £17.6 million, signing up at Stamford Bridge on a four-and-a-half-year contract.
Palmieri featured just once for Roma in Serie A this season following a knee injury, but revealed he is ready to make an immediate impact at his new club:
“The injury is now in the past, they were six difficult months for me but what is important is right now I feel good. I couldn’t feel better so I only have in mind the idea of training with my team and helping us to achieve more.”
However, in last Friday’s press conference ahead of this evening’s trip to Watford, Antonio Conte sounded a little more cautious.
“We have to wait. Especially for Palmieri, we are talking about a player who is coming back from a bad injury. He has played only one game, in the Italian Cup against Torino”.
The History
Born in Brazil, Palmieri began his youth career at hometown club Santos before being handed a professional debut in April 2011.
He made 17 appearances for Santos before moving on loan to Italian side Palermo in August 2014.
The left-sided player only featured nine times in Serie A but impressed enough to secure a season-long loan to Roma for the 2015/16 season.
Despite only playing eight league matches, scoring one goal, Palmieri secured a permanent move to the Italian giants in a deal worth €2 million, and impressed last season, making 25 league appearances.
However, his knee injury and the form of Fantasy cult-hero Aleksandar Kolarov has seen Palmieri limited to just one league outing this season.
Palmieri represented Brazil at U17 level, before pledging his international allegiance to Italy in March 2017, although he has yet to earn his first cap.
The Prospects
Having been on the lookout for cover for Marcos Alonso at left wing-back over the past 12 months – with Juventus’ Alex Sandro a long-term target – Chelsea have eventually settled on Palmieri.
Able to play at left-back, left wing-back or even on the left side of midfield, the new arrival’s proven strengths lie largely in his attacking play.
His ability to beat a defender one-on-one makes him more of a traditional winger and could provide a fresh dimension to the Chelsea side. Indeed, an average of 43.7 minutes per successful dribble last term is far superior to Alonso (171.4) this season.
Although his first-team opportunities have been limited to this point, career statistics of three goals and four assists aren’t hugely eye-catching.
Looking at his underlying numbers last season, he averaged a shot every 109.2 minutes, significantly inferior to Alonso’s figure for this campaign (45.7).
In terms of distribution, the new boy averaged a key pass every 65.5 minutes in Serie A last term – superior to Alonso’s stats from both last term (112 minutes) and the current one (74 minutes).
However, only 13.1% of his crosses found their target for Roma in 2016/17 – Alonso surpasses that in both his recent seasons (16.7% and 16.2%) at Stamford Bridge.
Given his age and relative lack of experience at the highest level, the addition of Palmieri is surely made with one eye on the future, with prices of 5.5 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) and 7.4 in Sky Sports reflecting this.
Nonetheless, the fact that Conte finally has viable cover for Alonso – the only Chelsea player to start every league match this season – indicates that the Spaniard could, very occasionally, be subject to rotation.
As evidenced on the opposite flank, though, the arrival of Davide Zappacosta has made little impact on Victor Moses’s security of starts – five of the Italian’s seven league starts this season have came when Moses was ruled out through injury.
It seems very likely that Palmieri will be eased onto the teamsheet, perhaps in FA Cup matches, though minutes off the bench could dig into Alonso’s pitch-time should Conte look to rest the latter late on in matches.
With dead-ball duties boosting his potential, the Spaniard remains peerless as a source of both attacking and defensive returns.
In terms of goal threat, Alonso’s total of 49 efforts is just one less than the combined tally of his nearest rivals Hector Bellerin and Nicolas Otamendi, on 25 apiece. He also places at the summit for attempts in the box (30) and shots on target (17).
In addition, no team has kept more clean sheets than Conte’s side (nine) since N’Golo Kante returned from injury back in Gameweek 11.
Those two combined means that Alonso’s stature as the go-to premium defender of choice remains very much intact, despite a fairly testing short-term schedule. Conte’s side visit both Manchester clubs and Burnley and also entertain Spurs in the next six Gameweeks.
