Just a day after the transfer window deadline drama, Chelsea finally presented their most recent transfer at Cobham training center.
Chelsea nearly didn’t sign a key element on a loan from Atletico Madrid, they just presented Saul Ñiguez at Cobham today. For the first time in his professional career, the Spanish midfielder wore a kit that is not from his childhood club. Much like we’ve seen with other players who seemed eternal at their clubs, this feels extremely weird. Marina Granovskaia managed to land another incredible transfer even though it’s just a loan. Saul was getting slowly forgotten by Diego Simeone as one of the best midfielders in Spanish football.
Things got to a point where he was even used as a left-back instead of his natural position. You might’ve forgotten but this is the same player who scored incredible Champions League solo goals against clubs such as Bayern Munich. But in recent years, Saul wasn’t the same anymore and he clearly needed a breath of fresh air as a professional. Chelsea is the ideal place for him to take that next step as a world-class player.
The competition will be stiff for Saul Ñiguez.
Even though the competition was already tough for Saul at Atletico Madrid, the Spaniard preferred playing at a different club that would at least use him as a midfielder. However, Chelsea is a tough place to earn himself a spot. He will have to compete with the likes of Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic, and even Hakim Ziyech. The former Atletico man is still young at 26 years old. We can easily say that his better years are still ahead of him.
Today, he got a warm welcome from Chelsea upon his arrival at Cobham. His situation at Atletico Madrid even lost him his regular spot with the Spain National Team under Luis Enrique. Hopefully, this new challenge can give us back that incredible player who mesmerized the entire world a few years ago. For now, Saul needs to train under Thomas Tuchel’s orders and slowly return to his level of performance.