Benjamin Pavard key to unlocking Reece James for Chelsea
Stuart Telford
- Updated: 30 Jul 2022 14:03 BST
- 3 min read
Chelsea have been linked to Bayern Munich and France defender Benjamin Pavard. His arrival would be great news for England right-back Reece James.
Chelsea have had a difficult time replacing centre-backs Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen so far this summer - the pair having previously left on free transfers for Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.
While Kalidou Koulibaly has been recruited in a €40 million deal from Napoli, the Senegal captain is, alongside the evergreen Thiago Silva, one of the few senior centre-backs on the books at Chelsea. Not ideal for a coach in Thomas Tuchel who prefers to play with a back three.
Trevoh Chalobah, Malang Sarr and even Levi Colwill could provide cover, but none are yet to hit their peak and the need to another elite-level operator in the position has been pronounced in pre-season, with wing-back James used at centre-back in the games against Club America and Charlotte FC in the USA.
Barcelona have beaten Chelsea to the signing of Jules Kounde.
But who are the winners and losers from the deal?
(spoiler alert: Chelsea fans might want to look away 😩)https://t.co/0xuQzYmIlS— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) July 28, 2022
James is a player who contributed five goals and nine assists in the Premier League last season from his advances position on the right. Only needing 133 minutes to contribute to goal last term, he was statistically the deadliest defender league-wide.
Injury-permitting, James has been preferred to Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold for England, and it is plain to see why he is so trusted by Gareth Southgate.
Pavard an ideal fit at Chelsea
Pavard would solve Tuchel's need to sacrifice James's attacking potential at club level. A World Cup-winning right-bac with France, he wants to play centre-back with Bayern, but that looks increasingly unlikely with the German champions recently adding Juventus's Matthijs de Ligt to their ranks.
Chelsea have already missed out on Jules Kounde, Pavard's understudy at international level electing to sign for Barcelona instead, but crucially for them, it appears that Pavard is open to the move.
German sports daily Bild report that Pavard has enlisted his agent to help facilitate a move.
"Pavard's advisor is his long-time confidante Joseph Mohan," they write. "Pavard and Mohan are friends with Max Bielefeld... who recently switched to [Pini] Zahavi's agency.
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"This is how the contact between the Pavard side and Zahavi came about: the agent has no official mandate, but will "kindly support" Pavard in the search for a new club. Through his network, Zahavi could find a club willing to pay the transfer fee - reportedly over €20m - that Bayern are asking for."
Chelsea would be more than willing to meet that asking price. Top-quality centre-backs are becoming a diminishing commodity in this summer's transfer market, with Leicester now reported to be demanding around £70m for Wesley Fofana.
Pavard would be a world-class alternative, affordable, and would free up one of the best right wing-backs in the league to do his job without interruption.
