Chelsea have three top targets to be the central defender to follow Kalidou Koulibaly to the club now that a deal for Nathan Ake seems dead. Here, we break down the first of them, Jules Kounde.
A look at Kounde’s FBRef stats shows a very assertive defender who likes to carry the ball out of defence.
In terms of passing stats for a defender, he dominates across the board, ranking among the very best percentiles in his position in the top 4 European leagues.
He’s 97% for Progressive Passes, 96% for touches in the attacking penalty box, 98% for dribbles completed and 89% for passes attempted overall.
You can just see him playing out wide of the back 3 in Thomas Tuchel’s formation, moving the ball forward both with his feet and passing it forward, bringing a real attacking momentum to the formation.
He won’t come cheap, but he certainly has a really strong skill set.
