Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fàbregas enjoyed a stellar year in his first season at Stamford Bridge in 2014-15, and the Spanish international made huge contributions throughout the Blues’ Premier League and League Cup winning campaign. Playing in the central midfield alongside bruiser Nemanja Matić, Fàbregas was at home surveying the pitch and threading balls forward from his preferred deep-lying position en route to a 21-assist season, 18 of which came in league competition.
Despite his slight frame, Fàbregas paired well with Matić in the double pivot for Chelsea, pulling the strings for the Blues’ attack while providing just enough defensive support for his Serbian counterpart who fortified the midfield in large part on his own.
There were times throughout the 2014-15 season, however, that Chelsea were in need of another holding midfielder to relieve Fàbregas.
Against teams with formidable central midfielders – like Southampton and its duo of Morgan Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama – Fàbregas struggled not to be overrun. There were a number of matches throughout the season in which manager José Mourinho opted to strengthen his midfield with the likes of Ramires, Kurt Zouma and, less often, John Obi Mikel in favour of the maestro Fàbregas.
Against Manchester City in September, Mourinho opted to use Ramires next to Matić and shift Fàbregas forward into the No. 10 role. Likewise, against Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16, Fàbregas was slotted forward with Ramires in the central midfield. Against Tottenham in the Capital One Cup final and again versus Manchester United in league play in April, Mourinho chose to armour his defence by playing centre back Kurt Zouma in a holding role next to Matić. And once again against Arsenal on April 26, Ramires was utilized in a 4-3-3 with aims of employing a very defensive approach at the Emirates.
It is noteworthy that some of these games, such as the Man United and Arsenal fixtures, took place down the stretch of the season when Mourinho and the Blues were using a defensive style to stifle opponents and lock down the Premier League title chase, which Chelsea ultimately did with three matches to spare. Still, these examples show how Fàbregas’ relative defensive shortcomings can be a weakness for the Blues in some of their bigger matches.
Coupled with the way that Chelsea had to deal with squad depth concerns throughout the second half of the 2014-15 season, this is why it is important for the Blues to add a strong central midfielder to their ranks in this summer’s transfer window.
Mourinho’s aim entering the summer was largely to keep his league winning side intact while adding a few players in key spots. While depth at the back and in the attacking midfield certainly needs to be bolstered, the central midfield is key for Chelsea if they are to make a legitimate run at European glory, as is now the expectation after reclaiming the Premiership following a five-season league drought.
Fàbregas is undoubtedly a key man for Chelsea for the foreseeable future, but that does not mean that there aren’t better options in the double pivot for Chelsea in some matches against bigger sides. Matić is one of Europe’s best holding midfielders, but he could use a partner to help shield the back line without also sacrificing technical proficiency the way that Mikel, Ramires and, most notably, Zouma do when playing in the central midfield.
For all intents and purposes, Mikel and Ramires have proven themselves to be serviceable options for Chelsea over the years, with Mikel playing a hand in winning 11 trophies in his tenure and Ramires now having five trophies to his name. However, if the aim is to win a Champions League title, these two probably won’t be more than bit-part contributors at this stage of their careers.
Likewise, Zouma’s long-term success will come in the centre of defence and not in the midfield, which leaves Chelsea with one promising young option in the central midfield, Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
At just 19 years of age, Loftus-Cheek projects to be Chelsea’s first true home-grown success since John Terry, possessing an amazing combination of size and technical ability. At 6-foot-4, RLC has all the tools to be the perfect complement to Matić in the double-pivot, filling the box-to-box role alongside Matić’s role as the number six. The only question with RLC is whether or not the youngster is ready to step in right now and be a major player for Chelsea. As high as his ceiling is, it seems like he will need at least one year of seasoning in a supporting role with the first-team before he is ready to be relied upon too heavily (I would be delighted to be proven wrong here, for what it’s worth).
With this need in the central midfield, it has been a bit frustrating to see the likes of Manchester United fortify their squad with players like Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Those two players coupled with Ander Herrera now figure to give United the sort of midfield that was able to overpower Fàbregas a season ago.
Outside of the dream signing of Paul Pogba, there are no sure fire, plug-and-play options currently available to make the Blues favourites in Europe with the likes of Barcelona. It would be wise, though, for the Blues to bring in some reinforcements to, at the very least, improve squad depth for the upcoming season and allow for more rotation than we saw last season.
With Chelsea having missed out on Schneiderlin and not seemingly favoured in the Pogba chase, Charles Aránguiz could be a sensible option. The Chilean has impressed recently in the Copa América, and he would bring better awareness and tactical nous than Ramires while providing more defensive help than Fàbregas.
Hopefully Loftus-Cheek is given ample time on the pitch this season to develop into the star that he is capable of becoming, but in the mean time it seems that Chelsea are sitting idle while their main title rivals go about improving their squads.
