CHELSEA are closing in on the signing of Monaco centre-back Benoit Badiashile for £33million.
The Blues are keen to bolster the centre of their defence in the January window and have been heavily linked with Croatia's World Cup star Josko Gvardiol - who plays his club football at RB Leipzig.
But that now appears less likely given his performances in Qatar have attracted interest from a host of Premier League heavyweights including Manchester City and Manchester United.
However, Badiashile's form for Monaco since the start of the 2021/22 campaign make him as exciting a proposition as Gvardiol.
The Frenchman, 21, boasts some thoroughly impressive statistics compared with the Chelsea defenders he could be competing against for a place in Graham Potter's starting XI.
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And SunSport has taken a look at just how he stacks up with the stars he may soon be calling his team-mates.
Chelsea have featured a host of players in a back three over the past 16 months.
They include Thiago Silva, Kalidou Koulibaly, Trevoh Chalobah, Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella, Cesar Azpilicueta and Reece James.
But in a number of areas Badiashile has actually outshone ALL of them.
He averages 7.3 possessions won per 90 minutes - more than the seven players currently at Stamford Bridge.
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And he also produces more clearances per game (3.6) than all the Chelsea stars.
Badiashile's duel success percentage (63.8 per cent) exceeds all of the Blues bar Silva (66.8 per cent), while he also averages 2.6 aerial duels won per game - with Fofana the only Chelsea man to manage more (2.7).
His passing accuracy stands at 87.5 per cent - more than Koulibaly, Cucurella and Azpilicueta but less than the other Chelsea options.
The Monaco man's interceptions per 90 minutes stand at 1.5 - the joint-second best alongside Silva but considerably less than Fofana's 2.4.
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He is dribbled past the least of any of the eight players in question with the exception of Silva.
And Badiashile also poses a threat at the other end, scoring three goals since the summer of 2021 - with only James (6) and Koulibaly (4) hitting the back of the net more often.
