Who can succeed Antonio Rüdiger?

We highlight five players with the talent and ability to fill the void left by Antonio Rüdiger at the back for Chelsea.

Published:21/04/2022

It is not going to be an easy summer for Chelsea. The London club will have to get it right with the planning of a defence in which César Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rüdiger are out of contract, the latter being the most complicated profile to replace due to his extraordinary level during the last two seasons, including an exhibition against Real Madrid. With this scenario on the table, we opened our database and functionalities to find the most interesting profile taking into account player characteristics, market value and the collective context generated by German Thomas Tuchel.

With this last aspect we begin to draw the profile, taking into account the three central defenders used by the German, the pace of play Chelsea are used to playing at and the way the players in the back line defend, characterised by being very aggressive in marking, moving forward and stifling the strikers who receive the ball from behind, creating the need for physically very powerful and very active defenders to defend forwards. Equally important will be his quality on the ball to drive and find the midfielders -Mount, Jorginho, Kanté, Havertz- with the pass.

As we did with César Azpilicueta’s replacement, Jules Koundé, who was close to leaving for Stamford Bridge, is one of the most likely players to take the German’s place on 30 June. His proactivity on the ball is ideal to play the roles most in demand by Tuchel, as well as his quality to make very good defensive decisions at all levels of the pitch and in all game situations.

Among the younger profiles, two very interesting options are William Saliba, owned by Arsenal and on loan at Olympique Marseille, and Mohamed Simakan, the great replacement for Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konaté at RB Leipzig, two defenders who share defensive vocation in teams that defend very high up the pitch and are very good in one-on-one defence. In the case of the RB Leipzig player, his mastery of aerial play is a plus compared to the other profiles, making him one of the best top centre-backs on the continent.

We are Driblab, a consultancy specialized in the statistical analysis of players and teams; our work is focused on advising and minimizing risk in professional football decision-making in areas related to talent detection and footballer evaluations. Our database has more than 180,000 players from more than 180 competitions, covering information from all over the world. Here you can learn more about how we work and what we offer.

Autor: Alejandro Arroyo
For Player Replacement we also recommend you:

‘Case study’: looking for a replacement for Rodrigo de Paul

We set up a case study looking for possible replacements for Rodrigo de Paul, using part of our replacement methodology.

Finding a replacement for Kim Min-Jae

We tried to find possible substitutes that fit with economic amounts, quality and style of play to cover the absence of the South Korean centre-back.

Looking for a replacement for Randal Kolo Muani

Bundesliga sensation Randal Kolo Muani would leave a lot of money in Eintracht’s pockets but replacing him would be complicated. We look at possible replacements for the Frenchman.

Looking for a replacement for Enzo Fernández

It is difficult to fill the void that Enzo Fernandez would leave when he leaves Benfica, but we are looking for candidates who could fit into the Lisbon team.

Que jogador pode substituir Enzo Fernández? (Portuguese)

É difícil preencher o vazio que Enzo Fernandez deixaria quando deixasse o Benfica, mas estamos à procura de candidatos que se possam encaixar na clube de Lisboa.

Who can replace Lisandro?

Replacing Lisandro Martinez is very difficult. We are looking for similar profiles with different market values to find the best possible option.

Was, wenn Andrej Kramarić nicht in Hoffenheim bleibt? (German)

Wir verwenden fortgeschrittene Daten, um Spieler zu identifizieren, die den kroatischen Stürmer ersetzen können, falls er seinen am 30. Juni auslaufenden Vertrag in Hoffenheim nicht verlängert.

What if Andrej Kramarić does not stay at Hoffenheim?

We use advanced data to identify players who can replace the Croatian striker in the event that he does not renew his contract with Hoffenheim; it ends on the 30th of June

Lorenzo Insigne, chi può sostituirti? (Italian)

Analizziamo le nostre metriche per trovare un sostituto di Lorenzo Insigne, una grave perdita per il Napoli a seguito della sua futura partenza per la MLS.

Lorenzo Insigne, who can take your place?

We dive into all our metrics to find a replacement for Lorenzo Insigne, a big loss for Napoli after his departure to MLS.

Driblab

Información corporativa

Somos una empresa con sede en Madrid fundada en 2017 por Salvador Carmona y Cristian Coré Ramiro. Desde nuestros inicios nuestro trabajo se ha centrado en el análisis estadístico de datos para ayudar a los clubes en la planificación deportiva. Somos una consultora big data que ofrece servicios personalizados para cada cliente y defiende un modelo de gestión mixto y una comunicación constante para acompañar el día a día de las instituciones. Nuestro punto fuerte es la más amplia cobertura disponible en número de torneos profesionales y juveniles. Para más detalles, póngase en contacto con nosotros.

Colaboramos con:

           

Hemos aparecido en: