Would Ezequiel Lavezzi be the right fit for Chelsea?
Friday 22 January 2016 06:42, UK
Would Ezequiel Lavezzi be the right man to bolster Chelsea's attacking line-up? We take a look at the stats with the help of Whoscored.com...
In the space of four seasons the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Andre Schurrle, Mohamed Salah and Juan Cuadrado have all had fleeting spells at Stamford Bridge for one reason or another.
Newspaper reports are now claiming that summer signing Pedro is unlikely to remain at the club for too long either, somewhat underwhelming in the capital after a goalscoring debut for the club. With last season's player of the year Eden Hazard also struggling for form, the Blues continue to be linked with a host of attacking players.
Nearly man Alexandre Pato is believed to be Chelsea's primary target to offer competition to Diego Costa up front, but it's PSG forward Ezequiel Lavezzi who continues to be linked with a move to strengthen the club's options out wide.
WhoScored.com assess whether the Argentina attacker could be the man to finally fit out wide for the Londoners...
Lavezzi's contract with the Ligue 1 champions is up at the end of the season, meaning he can agree terms with another club this month ahead of a free transfer this summer.
Something for nothing sounds like a good deal, but it's fair to say Lavezzi has not hit the heights expected of him in Paris. The Argentina international had flourished in Serie A with Napoli, scoring 23 goals and registering 23 assists over the course of three seasons, and it was enough to convince PSG to part with a reported fee of 30m euros to secure his services.
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But Lavezzi struggled to adapt to French football, scoring three goals and providing four assists in 28 league appearances in 2012/13. It was only enough to secure a modest WhoScored.com rating of 6.87, a significant drop from his scores at Napoli, which peaked at 7.40 in the 2010/11 Serie A campaign.
PSG decided a move for the wide man's former team-mate Edinson Cavani could perhaps help get the best out of him. After all, in the Argentine's best season in Italy, the Lavezzi-to-Cavani combination proved the most prolific in the league, teeing up the Uruguayan for six league goals.
However, Cavani's switch failed to have a galvanising effect. Lavezzi managed to notch a respectable nine goals but failed to pick up a single assist as his rating dropped further to a disappointing 6.79.
And things have gone further downhill since, with the forward increasingly marginalised in the French capital. While he made 30 league appearances last season, 11 came as a substitute, incidentally making his return of eight goals and two assists arguably his most impressive at the club.
Now very much on the fringes at the Parc des Princes, it begs the question as to whether a player who has started just three league matches this season, for a club Chelsea would likely consider a European rival, would really strengthen their ranks, regardless of whether he would arrive on a free.
While Lavezzi is mustering both shots (every 35.6 minutes) and key passes (every 42.7) more often this season than in any other at PSG, that can be attributed to the fact he has been used as a substitute 13 times - only two Ligue 1 players have made more cameos. As a result, he is able to exploit the fatigue of the opposition and find more space on the field.
Perhaps more telling regarding Lavezzi's regression is his dribble stats. In an admittedly modest 427 minutes of league action this season, the 30-year-old has completed just one dribble.
Given that in his final season at Napoli only three players rounded an opponent more times (75), it's possible much of the spark that made Lavezzi such an exciting player five years ago has diminished. Ironically, the man top of Serie A dribbles in that 2011/12 campaign was Cuadrado.
The stats suggest then, this is perhaps a signing Chelsea need to avoid this time around, as in reality no player comes free.
