With the signings of two high-profile attackers completed already and one more still to come, Chelsea are now in search of defensive reinforcements and have their sights set on Atletico Madrid’s Jose Gimenez.
The Uruguayan joined Los Rojiblancos in 2013 and won the La Liga title in his debut season.
Since then, he has racked up 187 appearances across six seasons in the Spanish capital. Although, his recent seasons have been disrupted by injuries as he hasn’t started more than 19 league games since the 2015/16 campaign.
Gimenez is a natural centre-back but also a useful option at right-back. Standing at 185cm tall, his aerial ability is astute and will come in handy in a Chelsea team that has conceded the second-most goals from set-pieces in the Premier League this season.
In the just concluded season, he won 2.7 aerial duels per game at an impressive accuracy of 71.05%. Contrary to many of his positional peers, he doesn’t tend to dive into tackles as his excellent sense of positioning allows him to anticipate danger before mopping things up.
As reported by The Telegraph’s Matt Law, Chelsea have earmarked Gimenez as a potential defensive addition. He joins a host of names linked with a move to Stamford Bridge. Frank Lampard’s men have been porous at the back all season long and will need to shore up going into next season.
Wednesday’s goal-glut at Anfield took the Blues up to 54 league goals conceded. For better context, that is the 8th worst defensive record in the division, worse than both Brighton and Everton’s who currently occupy the bottom half of the table.
While no fee has been reported yet, it could be as high as €40m owing to his €56m valuation and current contract which still has three years remaining.
