Fabian Ruiz signing would have stopped Chelsea’s NBA-style games this season

It is a shame, because if you look at most of Chelsea’s games this season, they would have really benefited from having a midfielder like Ruiz in their side.

Romeo Lavia is a very good midfielder, and Reece James is not a bad stopgap. But as a double pivot, it has not worked.

Chelsea have not had any real sort of control in the middle of the park with Lavia and James there and even less when Gusto has played in the engine room (the less said about that the better).

Looking at Ruiz’s profile, the 30-year-old is the sort of midfielder who is going to give you just that. As most Spanish midfielders are, he is a real technician who can keep the ball and pass it.

Chelsea fans, how do you feel about Enzo Fernandez’s exit after his bright display in the Manchester derby?

This season, Ruiz already has a pass success rate of 90.9% in Ligue 1, according to WhoScored. On average, he is completing nearly 50 passes per game.

James’ numbers are not too dissimilar, but the Chelsea captain is a right-back and you can see that from the positions and zones he ends up in even when being deployed as a midfielder.

He does not quite have, you could say, midfield awareness yet. One thing you tend to see from James is the England international taking too much time on the ball before an opposition player sneaks up on him and takes it.

It is not the kind of thing that is going to happen to a midfield maestro like Ruiz in the middle of the park.

Ultimately, having a midfield controller like Ruiz would have prevented some of these NBA kind of games we have seen from Chelsea this season. With that being said, Ruiz joining or Enzo Fernandez staying would not have addressed some of the shocking individual defending currently on display.

Jorrel Hato was heavily criticised by Paul Merson for one mistake he made at the weekend. Ruiz would not have been able to do much about that.

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