"That's not a good place to be" - Rio Ferdinand explains why 22-year-old Chelsea star must be 'frustrated' at Stamford Bridge
Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has claimed that Benoit Badiashile has been one of the many casualties of Chelsea’s bloated squad. Chelsea currently have 32 players in their squad, which is the joint second-highest (level with Manchester United and behind Nottingham Forest (35)) in the Premier League.
Chelsea signed Badiashile from AS Monaco for a €38 million fee in January. The 22-year-old brought calm to the Pensioners’ out-of-sorts back line, helping them to three consecutive Premier League clean sheets in his first three matches.
Despite his excellent start, he was overlooked by then-manager Graham Potter, with him registering Mykhailo Mudryk, Joao Felix and Enzo Fernandez ahead of him in his Champions League squad. Now, interim manager Frank Lampard has reduced Badiashile to a sporadic role, preferring Marc Cucurella ahead of him.
"He must be thinking...
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On BT Sport, Ferdinand claimed that Badiashile was badly affected by the west Londoners’ enormous squad, adding that he must feel frustrated after being overlooked time and time again. The Englishman said:
“I think the volume of players at Chelsea could be alarming for some of the players there.
“A lot of those players won’t know where they stand and many of them will be surplus to requirements come the summer. Looking at [Benoit] Badiashile, he’s sitting there, a young centre-back who can’t get into the Champions League squad.”
Ferdinand concluded by saying:
“He’s thinking, 'I should be playing.' He’s probably sitting there looking at some of the players in front of him and going, 'Hold on a minute, how have I been overlooked here?' That will be happening continuously throughout the squad and that’s not a good place to be.”
The €40 million-rated defender has played nine Premier League games so far this season. He has attempted 13 tackles, performed 64 recoveries, won 52 duels, and delivered 28 accurate long balls.
Benoit Badiashile is among seven untouchable players Chelsea want to build team around
According to The Telegraph, Chelsea are currently planning for the future, and in it, they only want to keep players to are essential to the project.
On that note, they have identified seven players who are to form the core of the project. Those lucky seven players are: Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk, Benoit Badiashile, Christopher Nkunku, Reece James, Wesley Fofana and Levi Colwill.
Colwell and Nkunku are not with the squad right now. While it is believed that the Frenchman has an agreement with the Blues, no official announcement has arrived yet. As for Colwell, he is currently on loan at Brighton & Hove Albion.
The list of omissions is also quite interesting, with none of Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling, Conor Gallagher, Mateo Kovacic and Kepa Arrizabalaga making the cut. Going by this list, a plethora of changes are set to take place at Stamford Bridge this summer.