William Gallas questions Chelsea’s signing of Axel Disasi
Former Chelsea player William Gallas has questioned the club’s decision to sign Axel Disasi in the summer, suggesting the move may have come too soon for the 25-year-old defender. Disasi has been ever-present under Mauricio Pochettino, starting all five of Chelsea’s matches so far this season, but Gallas believes the Premier League is a different level of difficulty and that Disasi still needs to ‘improve a lot’ to cut it at the top.
Gallas told Gambling Zone: ‘I was one of the guys who didn’t understand why Disasi joined Chelsea. The Premier League is a different league in terms of difficulty. Even though he is a physical player he has to understand strikers will be very strong when they challenge him. He has to improve a lot, but he has the opportunity to play alongside Thiago Silva and he has to learn from him, speak to him a lot, and Silva can help him move to the next step.’
Despite Chelsea enjoying huge amounts of possession – their 70.8% average is the highest in the Premier League – they have looked leaky at the back and Gallas is not convinced Disasi is quite at the level required yet. He continued: ‘Even though he has joined Chelsea it doesn’t mean he is completely ready. He still has some bad habits and he has to change them. That’s why when I saw his name, I thought he was not ready to join Chelsea. But you have to give him time to settle into a new country, new players and a new club. You have to give him time. When you have a foreign player who joins the Premier League you have to at least give them one year.’
Chelsea still lacking firepower
Gallas also believes Chelsea are still lacking firepower and, despite some promising early signs from Nicolas Jackson, is not convinced the Senegalese forward will bring the consistent goalscoring returns that the club need. He said: ‘Chelsea need a striker, one striker and maybe one experienced midfielder. They need a striker although it looks like Jackson is really good, he is still young and has to learn. I don’t know if he is going to score enough goals for Chelsea to help them win the Premier League one day. To win the Premier League, your striker needs to reach around 20-25 goals and I don’t think Jackson will do it, even though I think he is a really good young player who you can see his qualities.’
Conclusion
William Gallas has raised questions over Chelsea’s signing of Axel Disasi in the summer, suggesting the move may have come too soon for the 25-year-old defender. Gallas believes Disasi still needs to ‘improve a lot’ to cut it in the Premier League and feels the move may have come a little too soon. He also believes Chelsea are still lacking firepower and that Nicolas Jackson may not be able to provide enough goals to help them win the Premier League.